The Queensland government's "medieval approach" to criminal justice runs the risk of sending the state "back to the days of being a colony" where detention was at the Governor's pleasure, claim legal stakeholders.

The Queensland Law Society and the Catholic Prison Ministry have separately expressed concerns about recent changes to the state's law, which limit the power of the judiciary to make its own decisions.

Catholic Prison Ministry coordinator Dave Martin said the government's plan to send "high risk" offenders, ruled by a jury to be "vicious lawless associates" to an extreme maximum security prison was "against the basic human rights of prisoners".

"This is a medieval approach to criminal justice, bikies sentenced to imprisonment in maximum security units will have no access to rehabilitation opportunities and will exit the prison system traumatised and in some cases entirely unfit for reintegration into mainstream society," Mr Martin said.