Victoria's most violent criminals will be held in a new high-security detention facility even after they serve out their sentence, under a $308 million tough-on-crime overhaul.
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With crime and public safety an ongoing political headache for the Andrews government, law and order is expected to be a key theme of next week's state budget.
In addition to funding extra police and a new juvenile justice centre, the government's third budget will include cash to monitor and – in the worst cases – detain serious violent offenders who are deemed to pose a serious ongoing threat to public safety.
The overhaul follows a string of disastrous justice system failings that led to the murder of Doncaster schoolgirl Masa Vukotic.
Under the changes, costing about $77 million annually, laws will be beefed up to allow courts to treat violent offenders in the same way as serious sex offenders. That means violent criminals could face electronic monitoring, curfews, no-go zones and strict reporting requirements.
But for violent offenders deemed by a court to be too great a risk for release back into the community, a new 10-bed "post-sentence" secure detention facility will be built within an existing jail. It will be used to house violent criminals on detention orders – an extraordinary provision currently only applying to serious sex offenders and allowing detention without charge.
The new facility will be similar to the Hopkins Correctional Centre that already exists in Ararat for serious sex offenders on detention orders. There are currently only two men serving such orders.
A speciality sex offender response unit of Victoria Police – including detectives, intelligence analysts and corrections staff – will also be expanded. And a new 20-bed facility for violent offenders on supervision orders will also be built along side the Hopkins Correctional Centre in Ararat.
The new facility will be similar to Corella Place, which is informally known as the "Village of the Damned" and is used to house convicted paedophiles and sex offenders who have served prison terms but require ongoing monitoring.
The budget will also include an extra $41 million to help tackle recidivism, including expanding drug and alcohol treatment services for prisoners and offenders.
Sean Price, the man who murdered Masa Vukotic in a random stabbing, was repeatedly let loose despite high-level concerns about the threat he posed to the community.
As Fairfax Media revealed, Price had been considered a candidate for a detention order, which would have allowed authorities to detain him for three years without charge
But the recommendation for such an order was never acted upon because authorities decided it would fail as his most recent offences had been purely crimes of violence, rather than sexual attacks.
These failures prompted a review by former Supreme Court judge David Harper.
The Andrews government has been struggling to deal with growing community alarm about rising crime rates, including muggings, carjackings, robberies and home invasions.
Corrections Minister Gayle Tierney said there was no higher priority than community safety.
"We're making the investments and taking the steps to tighten the net on Victoria's most serious offenders," she said.
"We promised we'd implement every last recommendation of the landmark Harper Review."
