Lawyers and prison advocates say the drugs are being used as medication to control the young prisoners rather than treat their psychological problems.

A submission on the juvenile justice system prepared for the Minister for Community Services, Ms Christine Campbell, draws attention to girls held on remand at the Metropolitan Women's Centre at Deer Park.

It said they were "in a state of physical withdrawal from a prescribed drug" when they entered the juvenile justice centre at Parkville, where they had to be weaned off tranquillisers and anti-psychosis medication.

"There is concern that there is a degree of unnecessary medication used in order to manage the young women at Deer Park," says the paper by the Catholic Commission for Justice, Development and Peace.

Ms Campbell said she had been aware of the problem in opposition and had ordered her department to investigate.

Father Peter Norden, the director of Jesuit Social Services, said the entrenched problem reflected the immense pressure on staff to run prisons with limited resources.

He said there had been an explosion in the number of female prisoners in the past 10 years and many would be better rehabilitated in the community.

The commission's paper, which contains interviews with young men and women in juvenile detention centres, said staff at Parkville had trouble determining the level of medication among girls who came from Deer Park.

Conservative estimates put the proportion of prisoners with heroin addictions at about 80 per cent.

The commission's executive director, Ms Liz Curran, called for a separate centre to be built for young people on remand - to comply with international law- and closer monitoring of prescription drugs.

"These young people have not been tried, have not been found guilty, and should be separated from the adult prison population," she said. "The concern is that drugs are being used to placate prisoners when they become difficult or distressed."

Ms Campbell said a State Government review of juvenile justice in Victoria would deal with many issues raised in the commission's report.

The review is expected to be completed within six weeks.

The commission's discussion paper also says another senior youth training centre should be built. It describes the existing centre, Turana, as dungeon-like and smelling of urine. Boys who may have been sexually abused were forced to shower in front of others.

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