Outgoing Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass has taken a swipe at the accountability of the Victorian government, lashing it for its track record on justice reform and consistent refusal to implement a United Nations commitment to prevent torture in prisons.

In a week which saw the government backflip on laws which would have given a presumption of bail to children, Ms Glass used her final report to criticise the state government for failing to pursue "brave" reforms in the justice sector, and to introduce independent oversight and inspection of the state's prisons.

"History is full of examples of enlightened governments taking brave steps and leading public opinion," she said in the report.

"Without them, we would still have public hangings, Dickensian prisons and sweatshops, not to mention institutionalised discrimination against women and minorities."

Ms Glass said she had been unable to "persuade the editors of some mass media outlets, or their audiences, that tough-on-crime policies which keep people in prison longer or repeatedly send them back ultimately make us less safe, not to mention their impact on the public purse".

"Victoria was once a leader in justice reform. Perhaps one day we will be one again," she said.

The government has been lambasted for the bail U-turn in the face of criticism surrounding youth crime from the opposition and Victorian Police. Indigenous, legal and human rights groups have slammed the "senseless decision", calling it a "betrayal" of Aboriginal children.

Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS) chief executive Nerita Waight asked how the state could "meaningfully walk down the path of Treaty with a government so willing to walk away from their commitments".

Ms Waight told National Indigenous Times that Victoria was "continuing to fail to protect the basic human rights of Aboriginal children, young people and adults who are incarcerated. "

"The extent of the abhorrent abuse, mistreatment and corruption in prisons is on the public record and yet the government continues to ignore these significant breaches of human rights, nor undertake the measures required to address them."

Furthermore, the state has been criticised for aspects of its juvenile detention system after a number of incidents.

These include a 17-year-old Indigenous boy being placed in a spit hood whilst in an adult prison, labelled "shocking" by Victoria's Commissioner for Children and Young People, Liana Buchanan; and whistleblowers from the Youth Justice Centre in Parkville complaining about the rampant use of isolation, including on Indigenous teens and youth on remand - who had not been found guilty of any crime.

Ms Glass' report called on the state to initiate "real reform," arguing it is "needed in the wider justice sector".

"But this requires a government not driven by headlines that all too often have triggered a knee-jerk tightening of bail, parole and sentencing laws," she said.

"The kind of tightening that swept up troubled, non-violent people like Veronica Nelson who should never have been in a prison cell when she died, tragically, in January 2020."

Asked on Monday about claims the recent bail backflip was a knee-jerk response, Premier Jacinta Allan told The Age: "I would take, respectfully, a different view. Policy matters are carefully thought through."

Ms Glass also criticised Victoria's lack of compliance with UN's Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT). Australia has ratified the convention, which requires all signatories to establish independent inspection bodies to monitor detention facilities, known as National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs).

Victoria, along with NSW and Queensland, are yet to implement these reforms, despite Ms Glass repeatedly urging the state government to do so.

She called Victoria "one of the laggard states" on OPCAT and said the numerous reports by her office on the UN agreement had been "widely praised by the human rights community," but mostly "ignored by the government".

"I do not know why the government has been unable to make the decision to designate the Ombudsman, at the least, to be the independent inspector of Victorian prisons," Ms Glass said.

"I have wondered if it is because they are simply unwilling to give me any new functions. Perhaps now they will finally get on with it."

In January, an open letter addressed to Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes expressed a "deep concern" at Victoria's ongoing failure to implement OPCAT.

Ms Glass said the "official excuse" for not implementing OPCA was cost, as well as a lack of agreement with the Federal Government as to who will pay for it.

However, she noted the 2019 Ombudsman report highlighted the cost of the independent body if contained in an existing agency with the necessary powers was less than $3 million, or less than one per cent of the Department of Corrections budget.

Ms Waight said on Tuesday: "VALS has consistently called for the establishment of a culturally safe independent detention oversight body, as required by the UN's anti-torture treaty, OPCAT."

"Our people are the most overincarcerated peoples on earth and we have seen a spike in Aboriginal deaths in custody in Victoria over the last 3 years," she said.

"Victoria has increased spending on prisons and police at double the rate of other states over the last decade. If they have money to build more and bigger prisons, then they have the responsibility to spend some of that money ensuring people are not tortured in those prisons.

Victorian Greens justice spokesperson, Katherine Copsey, told National Indigenous Times the government has refused to act on implementing an independent monitor under the "pretence of it being too costly".

"We know solitary confinement has been used on young people in our prisons despite being prohibited under International Law. And we know an independent monitor would help curb things like this happening," Ms Copsey said.

She said the government was "happy to spend billions on prisons" but wouldn't pay to ensure the human rights of Victorians in detention were upheld.

"If Labor was serious about First Nations justice it would immediately implement our responsibilities under OPCAT," Ms Copsey said.