Prisoners in Canberra's jail were unable to vote in the last federal election, turn to drugs out of boredom and are locked in cells due to staff shortages, a report says.

The ACT Official Visitors 2024-25 annual report said people at the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) could not vote at the May election because they did not have computer access.

Official Visitors are advocates that visit and investigate complaints made by Canberra's most marginalised.

"Voting arrangements at the recent federal election for example were primarily communicated with detainees via email," the report said.

"Detainees in a number of areas advised they were not aware of arrangements until it was too late, meaning they did not have the opportunity to vote."

Official Visitors ACT said senior management t

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