The ACT Legislative Assembly has rushed through laws to ensure remandees are not automatically granted bail because they would have to be kept with sentenced prisoners.
The ACT Supreme Court recently ruled the man accused of murdering Canberra grandmother Irma Palasics had his human rights breached as he was kept with sentenced prisoners.
Canberra's jail has allowed the human rights breach for many years due to overcrowding at the jail.
An advisory committee recommended the government amend the law three years ago but recent court decisions have prompted the government to change the law.
But the territory's opposition has hit out at the government for rushing through the laws as a matter of urgency when the problem has existed for nearly 20 years.
Under the Corrections Act, the director-general of the Justice and Community Safety directorate is required to "ensure that convicted detainees are accommodated separately from non-convicted detainees".
The government's amendments set out circumstances when this does not have to be followed.
The laws were brought forward as part of amendments to the Justice and Community Safety Act. The government was already considering the amendments but this was brought forward separately and did not undergo regular scrutiny processes.
ACT Corrections Minister Emma Davidson said there were three recent court decisions which prompted the government to introduce the amendments urgently.
"Were it not for these court decisions, this matter would not have been raised with this level of urgency and we would have continued the work already underway to plan for practical solutions to this issues," she said.
Ms Davidson said it was not possible to separate remandees and detainees due to the jail being over capacity. She said the government was planning to build more accommodation at the Alexander Maconochie Centre but this could take years.
"It would take years to complete the design and construction to make more beds available, and in the meantime, we have to deal with the world as it is while continuing to work towards the world as we want it to be," she said.
"So we need to do what is possible within the spaces we have, to meet everyone's needs as best we can while also maintaining safety in the community."
One of the court decisions involved Steve Fabriczy, 69, who allegedly murdered Mrs Palasics in 1999. He applied for bail on the basis that his human rights were being breached. However, the court denied his application.
Opposition corrections spokesman Mark Parton said the government had known this was an issue for years and was skeptical of it being rushed through without undergoing regular processes. He also attacked the Greens for pursuing the change.
"In a parallel universe if there were a Liberal corrections minister who brought forward this amendment, the Greens would go to town on us" he said.
"What I sense is that for the Greens, human rights are really important if you're standing on a university campus with a bullhorn under Palestinian flag but when it comes to matters that are within control of your ministerial responsibilities, they're not important at all."
Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury defended the rushed laws, saying they were necessary before the Assembly entered the caretaker period.
"Part of the consideration here is that we are about to enter into the caretaker period and a substantial period of time in which the Assembly will not sit, and certainly will not sit in order to pass legislation," he said.
