SA lawyers say efficiency measures are trapping newly-arrested people in custody without bail The Adelaide Magistrates Court. Barrister Heather Stokes. Picture: Matt Turner. COURTS efficiency measures and communication breakdowns have left newly-arrested people lost in the system and languishing in custody, lawyers claim. Heather Stokes and other defence counsel claim people are spending up to three days in custody without a chance to apply for bail now major cases are heard in Adelaide instead of the suburbs. Ms Stokes said a man arrested at Holden Hill at 10.30am on Friday, January 3, did not face court in Adelaide until 2.15pm on Monday, January 6, because his paperwork went missing. A woman in custody on Christies Beach drugs charges, meanwhile, applied for bail on January 3 because she was at risk of defaulting on her Housing Trust Rent. The Adelaide Magistrates Court adjourned her application until Tuesday next week - meaning her daughter, 16, could be left homeless. Ms Stokes said they were "just two examples" of problems being encountered by solicitors due to centralisation and poor communication between police and courts. "It's outrageous and unacceptable that a person could be arrested and have to wait days or weeks before making a bail application," she said. These people may or may not be guilty yet they're already in jail thanks to this laissez-faire attitude, this administrative shrugging-of-shoulders that leaves them to languish. You do not leave people in custody for administrative convenience. Under state law, arrested persons must have the opportunity to seek release on bail, from a court, within one working day of their arrest. When a person is arrested for major matters, however, the police brief must be assessed by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions prior to their court appearance. The DPP determines whether the charges should remain as stated or be upgraded, and whether or not release on bail should be opposed. All this occurs through paper-copy files being passed between offices due to the courts' antiquated IT systems which, the State Government says, would cost $51.4 million to upgrade . In February last year, Magistrate Simon Smart threatened to release an alleged offender and leave him "in the wind" if SA Police did not lodge their case before 4pm . Efficiency measures, meanwhile, have been enacted across all SA jurisdictions in order to meet a $7.3 million savings target imposed by the State Budget. In May, the Magistrates Court announced all murders, sex crimes and major cases would be centralised in Adelaide and heard by a hand-picked team to improve efficiency . In September, lawyers criticised the plan saying it robbed alleged offenders of their dignity, created delays and left inmates at greater risk of suicide . Yesterday, Ms Stokes said there was a lack of communication between agencies. She said the man who spent 72 hours in custody suffered delays because neither police and prosecutors lost his paperwork between Holden Hill and Adelaide. Lawyers for the woman, she said, informed the court of their client's housing problem but that was ignored when fixing her bail application date. "The issue is not whether these people will or won't get bail, it's the fact they have the right to apply before a court within 24 hours of their arrest," she said. I know Parliament and the general public aren't concerned about people they view as criminals but, should they find themselves in court, they'll realise how terribly important that right is. Lawyer Steven Georgiadis agreed. "Now that all matters are being heard in Adelaide, by the time a file is passed between police and the DPP, it's after 4pm and the Bail Act has been breached," he said. Clients spend days, even up to a week, in custody as a result of this ... it's ridiculous, and it's getting worse and worse. Lawyer Craig Caldicott said the old paper file system was at odds with centralisation and efficiency measures. "In this day and age, why can't police prosecutors simply lay a charge and have a newly-arrested person appear in court in the morning like everyone else?" he said. We have situations where a person is arrested at 11am on a Friday and not appearing in court for bail until 4pm the following Monday ... it's outrageous. Another prominent lawyer, who asked he not be named, said the magistrates conducting the newly-centralised major matters were the problem. "The fundamental problem is the magistrates assigned to this task ... they want to have a hand in every matter and are becoming control freaks," he said. He said police, particularly those investigating drug allegations, were slow to bring matters to court. "When you're dealing with the Drug Investigation Branch or Crime Gangs Task Force, they love to arrest someone on a Friday and not bring them to court until Monday," he said. They love to drag their feet with the paperwork and it's maddening. A spokeswoman for the Courts Administration Authority declined to respond to Ms Stokes' concerns when approached by The Advertiser.