Tony Mokbel's recovery from a brain injury sustained during a prison attack has been hampered due to his isolation from other inmates.
The Melbourne drug kingpin is continuing to suffer the effects of a traumatic brain injury after he was set upon by two 21-year-old prisoners at Barwon near Geelong four years ago.
Mokbel, 57, appeared in Victoria's Court of Appeal on Monday, where his lawyers applied for him to be re-sentenced after one of his previous convictions was quashed due to the Lawyer X scandal.
His barrister Julie Condon KC said Mokbel's rehabilitation from the February 2019 assault had been slow due to being socially isolated while in protective custody.
"He's doing time in harsh conditions. His conditions in custody have impeded the rehabilitative process," she said.
"Mr Mokbel spends in the order of 20 hours per day alone in his cell most days. He has no access to work, education or rehabilitation programs.
"He's placed in a restrictive environment through no fault of his own, and he shouldn't be subjected to it."
Mokbel spent 24 days in a coma after the attack and was left with cognitive issues impacting his memory, planning, organisation and reasoning skills.
Ms Condon said social isolation had impeded his recovery and led to a decline in his mental health.
She said Mokbel, who wants to be transferred to another prison to be with the mainstream population, is allowed out of his cell for one or two hours a day.
"He reported that he had not set foot on grass or an open airspace since his assault traumatic brain injury in February 2019," she said.
He suffered two heart attacks in March and April last year and then underwent stent surgery, but she said medical care has been "wanting".
Mokbel pleaded guilty to three counts of drug trafficking and was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2012.
One of his convictions - importing a commercial quantity of cocaine from Mexico - was quashed by the appeal court in December 2020 after his former lawyer Nicola Gobbo was ousted as a police informer.
Wearing a black suit, Mokbel sat in inside the court dock on Monday, flanked by two custody officers.
Prosecutor Raelene Sharp SC said she was not seeking a disproportionate sentence and Mokbel would remain in prison regardless of the outcome.
"Whatever the varied sentence is, it doesn't mean that there's an imminent release date. It's not a situation where the applicant's at risk of serving more time than would otherwise the appropriate," she said.
Ms Condon said Mokbel was entitled to be given some certainty on how long he will remain behind bars for.
"He's simply served a prison sentence referrable to a conviction that is no longer valid," she said.
The three judges reserved their decision to a later date.
