Shrinking prison population prompts call to rethink bail laws

Liberty Victoria co-chair Sam Norton, a prominent defence lawyer, said the prevention of a coronavirus outbreak in the prison system was a success. "We always knew they would take a really conservative approach in terms of visitors, knowing that COVID getting into prisons would just be a nightmare," he said.

Mr Norton said there was a case to ease some restrictions. He pointed out that lawyers and other professionals were already able to visit clients through "box visits", where inmates and visitors are separated by a transparent screen.