Daily London
Underworld kingpin George Marrogi has won a legal fight over his conditions in custody, with a judge finding the killer has been deprived of access to open air.
He pointed to legislation which states every prisoner should have access to open air for at least an hour each day.
Marrogi’s lawyers argued their client had been deprived of that right during his time at the Melbourne Remand Centre and Barwon Prison between May 2023 and September last year.
Supreme Court Justice Claire Harris on Monday agreed, ruling the rear yards at the remand centre’s Exford Units and Barwon’s Olearia, Melaleuca and Acacia did not have open air.
“The yard felt enclosed, with limited room to move around and the only view to the outdoors being to the sky above the yard through the mesh on the cell’s roof,” the judge said in her written judgment.
Justice Harris accepted prisoners did have access to open air in the Olearia and Acacia units’ exercise yards.
After going in person to view the units, she noted she could see the sky in those spaces and it was possible to feel a breeze.
“I felt the warmth of the sun coming into the yard, which was visible in the brightness and shadows it cast, and felt breezes,” the judgment read.
“I could hear sounds of birds and other sounds associated with being outside, such as airplanes and the sound of wind.”
In contrast, the rear yards at Barwon and the Melbourne Remand Centre were small and felt enclosed with layered wire mesh ceilings, the judge said.
“There was no sense of being outside or in an open space,” the judgment read.
Justice Harris also found that there were dozens of occasions between May 2023 and June 2025 where Marrogi’s right to dress in private after a strip search was breached.
The parties will return to court to discuss next steps at a later date.
