The Victorian government has committed to implement all recommendations made by the state's royal commission into mental health, before the inquiry has even finished.
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Acting premier Lisa Neville on Tuesday released the government's submission to the royal commission, including a suggested 'stepped-care' model to tailor mental health treatment and care to individual patients.
"The Labor government will implement all recommendations made by the royal commission to ensure Victorians get the care that they deserve," she said in a statement.
The commission on Tuesday continued public hearings, including evidence from about 90 witnesses, including medical professionals and people living with mental illness.
"The stepped-care model is about building better connections between mental health services so people don't fall through the cracks, like too many do right now," Mental Health Minister Martin Foley said.
The Human Rights Law Centre is one of many groups to make submissions to the commission.
It pointed out that more than half of Victoria's prison inmates face some form of mental illness and being kept behind bars is not helping.
"People with mental illness should be supported in the community, not locked away in prisons," lawyer Shahleena Muskin said.
"We need an improved mental health system that ensures vulnerable people are not being criminalised."
Ms Musk said it was "inhuman" to use prisons as a "dumping ground" for people with mental illness.
According to the centre, 61 per cent of men and 65 per cent of women in prison report experiencing a mental health condition.
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