Child offenders should not be put in adult jails, where some have been kept in solitary confinement for months, the Victorian ombudsman says.
Ombudsman George Brouwer said children were being put in overcrowded adult prisons because the youth correctional facilities can't manage their violent behaviour.
Mr Brouwer said children were being kept in solitary confinement in adult jails and this is a breach of their rights.
"The youth justice system is struggling to meet the needs of some complex and potentially violent children," Mr Brouwer said in a report tabled in Victorian parliament on Thursday.
The report says 24 children have served time in adult jails since 2007.
The number spiked last year with seven children transferred to adult prisons, including five moved between July and August, who were kept in solitary confinement for a number of months.
They were locked in their cells for 23 hours a day and kept in handcuffs for the one hour of exercise they were granted.
Mr Brouwer said young offenders were deliberately committing violent acts within the youth justice system because there was a perception conditions were better in adult jail.
In one instance, four youths attempted to escape the Parkville Youth Justice Precinct by cutting a staff member several times in the neck with a make-shift weapon.
Mr Brouwer said if authorities move young offenders to adult prisons in response to violent acts it could encourage more to do the same.
"(This) will ultimately make youth justice more dangerous for staff and other detainees," Mr Brouwer said.
Children are vulnerable in the mainstream prison population, he said, and could be subjected to sexual assaults, but warned solitary confinement could have a detrimental effect on their mental health.
He recommended the government remove the option to transfer children to the adult prison system once the expansion of the Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre becomes operational in 2015.
