Victorian justice reforms that includes loosening the nation’s toughest bail laws will be introduced in the first half of the year.

Premier Daniel Andrews on Tuesday said his government had been working on a raft of changes for some time, but would not be drawn on what they would include.

It comes a day after coroner Simon McGregor’s damning findings following the death of an Indigenous woman in custody.

Coroner Simon McGregor declared Veronica Nelson’s death in January 2020 was preventable and found corrections had failed to provide her with adequate health care.

The coroner handed down 39 recommendations, including an urgent review of the state’s bail act – widely known as the toughest in the country.

The 37-year-old Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta woman died alone in her cell at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in January 2020.

She died from complications of Wilkie’s syndrome, in a setting of withdrawal from heroin.

Mr McGregor also raised grave concerns about the monitoring of deaths in custody by the Corrections Department, including what he described as a “disturbing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ arrangement” between departments.

He said if her death had not proceeded to a coronial inquest, the internal report, death in custody report and formal debrief would have remained as the only official investigations into Ms Nelson’s passing.

“It is a deeply concerning prospect to contemplate,” Mr McGregor said.

He also pointed to a debrief following Ms Nelson’s death, chaired by Governor of the Marngoneet Correctional Centre, Pat McCormick, who closed the meeting applauding the efforts of prison staff.

“After reviewing the incident pack I can’t see much that could have been improved,” Mr McCormick had said.

“Maybe this incident would not have been handled as well at a different prison. The difference between good and poor prisons is the way you treat the prisoners.”

Mr McGregor noted in the 12 months after Ms Nelson’s passing, four more women died at the same jail.

One of those women was also Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

He also referred the prison’s healthcare provider, Correct Care, to prosecutors for criminal charges because it failed to prevent a risk to the health and safety of non-employees.

Correct Care has acknowledged the coroner’s findings and will review them, a spokesman told AAP.

The state government made changes to the Bail Act in 2018 under expert advice in response to the 2017 Bourke Street massacre.

“The Bail Act has a discriminatory impact on First Nations people, resulting in grossly disproportionate rates remanded in custody, the most egregious of which affects alleged offenders who are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women,” Mr McGregor said.

He also recommend that the Victorian government and peak Aboriginal organisations develop a review and implementation strategy for the 339 recommendations of the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service chief executive Nerita Waight called on the government to fix the bail laws, to overhaul prison health care and to address systemic racism within the legal system.

“It shouldn’t fall on families and their lawyers to push for proper investigations into deaths in custody.”

– AAP