Senator Lidia Thorpe and the Greens are the latest to call for a controversial Victorian amendment that would mean prisoners are no longer guaranteed daily access to fresh air to be scrapped.

Currently, prisoners in Victoria who are not ordinarily engaged in outdoor work are entitled to spend at least one hour each day in the open air, weather permitting.

Known as the "No Air" bill, the amendments — introduced after a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year — will limit that entitlement in circumstances where it is "not reasonably practicable to provide the entitlement", including due to prison management requirements and the rights and safety of the prisoner or other inmates.

The amendments have drawn intense criticism from the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and the First Peoples' Assembly, the latter of which submitted to the government that the bill "undermines the renewed relationship between First Peoples and the State agreed to under Statewide Treaty".

The government has admitted that, due to the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in custody, First Peoples "may be disproportionately affected by the Bill, particularly those who have been separated in prison".

In a letter to new Premier Ben Carroll seen by National Indigenous Times, Senator Thorpe expressed her "deep concern" about the bill.

"There is a fundamental contradiction between your responsibilities as Premier — which includes responsibility for ensuring the human rights of incarcerated people are upheld, including adherence to the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture [OPCAPT] — and legislation that seeks to remove the right to daily outdoor time," the letter reads.

"This Bill exacerbates the harsh conditions faced by vulnerable people in the justice system and fails to align with the compassionate outcomes your role is intended to champion for all, including those within the so-called justice system."

Youth Justice and Corrections Minister Paul Hamer told Parliament that while the bill does not contain provisions that apply specifically to First Peoples, "the practical effect of the Bill may be to undermine inherent rights, unacceptable disadvantage inflicted, human rights and fundamental freedoms of First Peoples, given Aboriginal people are significantly overrepresented in the prison population".

Because of the recent implementation of Victoria's Treaty Act, the government stated that "it was not possible" to give the First Peoples' Assembly the "opportunity to advise on the Bill or for them to otherwise make representations about the effect of the Bill on First Peoples".

In response, the Assembly submitted, as part of the new powers under the Statewide Treaty Act, that the "vague excuse of 'operational considerations' should not be relied upon to erode the basic rights and conditions of all people in prison".

"The Assembly shares the concerns raised by First Peoples Community experts, including those with lived experience," they said. "This Bill will have a disproportionate impact on First Peoples who continue to be significantly overrepresented in Victoria's correctional system."

On Tuesday, the Greens also condemned the bill, arguing it is a make-or-break test of the government's commitment to Treaty and First Nations justice.

"This is where Labor's endless race to the bottom with the Liberals to look 'tough on crime' has taken us: stripping people of fundamental rights and normalising conditions akin to torture in prisons," Greens justice spokesperson Katherine Copsey said.

"You don't rehabilitate people by locking them in a cell and denying them fresh air. You don't make communities safer by treating people as less than human."

Writing on social media, human rights barrister Greg Barnes was unequivocal: "Victoria is the state of torture."

"This legislation is utterly inhumane. Any MP who supports this bill supports torture," he wrote.

In her letter to the Premier, Senator Thorpe alleged the death of an 18-year-old mother at the women's Dame Phyllis Frost Centre (DPFC) "was the result of solitary detention and lockdowns the young woman was subjected to".

"Within three weeks of becoming 'an adult', this young mother was dead," Senator Thorpe wrote. "This should raise serious concerns for you about the conditions at DPFC and welfare of those incarcerated."

She called for a meeting with the Premier and also for the ability to visit the prison, having made "repeated requests" to the previous minister on the matter.

The government has also acknowledged the legislation is, in part, "incompatible with human rights as set out" in the Human Rights Charter. Those rights include protection from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and the right to humane treatment when deprived of liberty.

It is the second time in less than a year the Victorian Government has acknowledged legislation does not fully comply with the charter.

In December, Labor's "adult crime for violent crime" laws prompted Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny to admit they "constitute significant limits on the fundamental rights of children who are by their nature a vulnerable cohort".