'I just want a hug': Families of ACT inmates missing face-to-face visits

It broke for a second time in March when ACT Corrective Services acted to prevent the spread of coronavirus by banning visitors to the Hume facility.

When video calls were first introduced, Dee didn't imagine it would be more than five months before she'd be able to comfort her son away from a screen.

"I won't say I've been suicidal but I've been that down I didn't know what was going to happen next," she said.

Prior to the pandemic, Dee and her husband would travel twice a week to sit face-to-face with their young son, have a coffee and a chat.

She said since visits went digital real conversation had been difficult, as they grappled with the idea their meetings could be recorded.

The partner of another inmate said there had been no update from prison staff on when in-person visits could resume.

The woman, who asked not to be named, said video conferencing did not allow the same connection an in-person visit afforded, and was particularly confusing for young children.

She said they understood the need to lock down access to the jail at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but had expected some information about a plan to reintroduce visiting hours as the coronavirus risk in Canberra appeared to ease.

Dee said it had been hard on the whole family but perhaps toughest on her as a mum. "You bring them into the world and you do your best to bring them up and now it's as if he's just gone," she said. "He's my baby. I just want a hug."

With this week ticking into 50 days without a case of coronavirus in the ACT, Dee's not alone in beginning to wonder when pre-lockdown policies might return.

She said her son was not being given the opportunity to rehabilitate so he could better handle life outside AMC.

"There's absolutely nothing happening at this time because of the virus," she said. "Sometimes when they have lockdown it's just him and his cellmate in their cell until three or four o'clock. There's no such thing as even getting a doctor's help at this stage."

Asked whether services had been compromised, the justice directorate said some activities such as programs had been restricted to account for social distancing.

To replace programs, detainees had been given self-paced program booklets to do in their own time, a directorate spokesperson said.

It said a number of external service providers had chosen to temporarily cease or reduce their attendance at the centre due to their organisational responses to the pandemic.

"Detainees have adjusted to changes in processes and physical distancing requirements, however, this has been a challenging time for them and does restrict service delivery within the AMC," the spokesperson said. The directorate denied psychological or health services had been been impacted by the pandemic, with the Justice Health Services and Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Services operational.