The ACT Human Rights Commission has criticised the territory government for "weakening" a rule that meant that people held in jail awaiting trial should be kept away from convicted criminals.
Earlier in the week, the ACT government amended the law so that people who were on remand in prison would not be released automatically because there was not enough space to keep them separate from convicted criminals.
But the ACT's Human Right Commission said this change opened the way for prisoners on remand to be held with convicted criminals - and that breached their human rights.
"The Human Rights Commission is extremely concerned that these amendments continue to allow for the routine detention of remandees with convicted prisoners, in violation of human rights," the commission said.
It added that some people remanded in the prison were not dangerous but just homeless and suffering mental health problems.
"Remanding a person in custody is not intended as a punishment. It may be required because of risks the accused poses to society or the justice process. It may occur for reasons such as the accused's potential risk of non-attendance at their trial," the commission said.
"Criminalisation of social inequalities such as homelessness should not be occurring in the ACT. Instead, this small, affluent and highly educated territory ought to be investing in supports for people to meet bail conditions and reducing recidivism by tackling inequality."
The ACT government changed the rule after the case of a 69-year-old man accused of killing a Canberra grandmother more than 20 years ago was denied bail, and this meant that he was kept in prison alongside sentenced prisoners.
The ACT Supreme Court recently ruled that he had his human rights breached as he was kept with sentenced prisoners.
The ACT's dilemma is that its prison, the Alexander Maconochie Centre, is overcrowded so people accused - but not convicted - of crime are either allowed to go free pending a trial or they are imprisoned with convicted criminals.
If they let people accused but not convicted of serious crime out on bail, they are cricitised. But if they imprison unconvicted people alongside hardened criminals, they are also criticised.
When the government amended the law this week, ACT Corrections Minister Emma Davidson said it was not possible to separate people on remand from convicted people because the jail was already over-capacity. The government was planning to build more accommodation at the Alexander Maconochie Centre but this would not happen soon.
"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."
