Two accommodation units in Canberra's jail have gone into temporary isolation amid a fresh COVID outbreak inside the prison.
The situation was revealed in the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday, when Chief Justice Lucy McCallum said people held in prison custody could not be brought over to face court due to the outbreak.
Several detainees held in the Alexander Maconochie Centre meant to face court for arraignments are instead set to return next week.
An accused blackmailer applying for bail on Tuesday told the court he had twice recently been diagnosed with the illness while in jail.
An ACT Corrective Services spokesperson said 34 positive COVID cases had been confirmed inside the AMC as of Wednesday.
"Outside of the impacted accommodation units, the rest of the centre will continue to run as normal," they said.
"Detainees who have tested positive or are within the isolated accommodation areas are still able to attend scheduled visits and court appearances via audio-visual links."
According to the spokesperson, all court matters with affected defendants will be assessed on a "case-by-case" and may proceed by audio-visual appearances.
"Otherwise, court appearances will progress as normal," they said.
Earlier this month, a spike in ACT COVID cases prompted Canberra hospitals to raise their alert level to "amber".
Under an amber alert, masks must be worn in all public areas in hospitals and in other health facilities like clinics. Patients are restricted to two visitors at any one time.
It's not the first time Canberra's only adult prison has faced similar outbreaks, or the first time a high number of cases have affected court appearances.
One 2022 outbreak was reported to have infected 57 inmates.
That same year, Aulich managing partner Peter Woodhouse called out the AMC after the prison claimed legal and welfare visits were continuing despite a fresh breakout.
The defence lawyer said he was refused from seeing a client despite the public claim.
