Victorian Courts get direct digital link for video conferences with prisoners

The internet is now able to be used for video conferencing at some Victorian Magistrates’ and Children’s Court venues and prisons. If this applies to you, you can contact Vanessa Ash to have your rights upheld.

This is a combined effort between Magistrates’ Court of Victoria and Corrections Victoria after the prison system is being stretched due to an increase of over 1,000 prisoners in the daily average, up to 5,800 in Victorian prisons in any given day. Hearings of so many prisoners is putting a burden on the system.

The project is set out in two stages, with the first being to expand the capabilities of a selection of courts and Corrections Victoria locations, with new equipment set up. There are now eleven court venues and four prisons involved in stage one. Family violence hearings at the Melbourne and Heidelberg Magistrates’ Courts are also set up, with affected family members able to appear before the court via video link from a remote location.

Stage two involves legal practitioners and other agencies dialing in on secure links to courts and prisons using laptops, tablets and smartphones to speak with prisoners. This means the number and types of hearings can increase, reducing the need for in-person interactions with the court and a lawyer or other body.

The first stage was set up in April 2015.

Need to use video link to talk? Call Vanessa Ash and Associates today. 

You might also need:

  1. An Overview of Victorian and Australian Courts
  2. Understanding remand in Victoria
  3. Review of sentencing options for drug-related offending in Victoria – LIV
  4. What’s the difference between jail and prison in Victoria?
  5. Revoking, varying, extending or moving a Victorian intervention order interstate
  6. Moving away with children – Victorian law
  7. Changes to the Victorian demerit point scheme from 1 July 2015