The Labor government was told years ago about the inadequacy of the Parkville youth justice centre, including one warning that the precinct had so many design flaws it ought to be shut down and replaced.

Days after teenagers sparked another riot at the juvenile facility – resulting in about 40 offenders being temporarily sent to adult prison while the damage is fixed – documents reveal the Ombudsman warned in 2010 that Parkville was so unsuitable as a youth detention centre "that the only practical way to address the conditions at the precinct in the long-term is to develop a new facility at another site".

Police at the Parkville facility on November 14. Credit:Pat Scala

The recommendation was made in a damning report tabled one month before the Brumby government lost office to Ted Baillieu's Coalition. Concerns included "hanging points" across the precinct, ill-placed staircases creating dangerous blind spots for staff, and a low roof that made it easy for detainees to climb onto it – just as they did last week during a lengthy stand-off with police.

But then ombudsman George Brouwer's report is one of several that has called for Victoria's youth detention centres to be improved over the years – former chief commissioner Neil Comrie and former NSW Juvenile Justice director Peter Muir have also done separate reviews behind the scenes – prompting questions as to why it has taken so long for successive governments to overhaul the facility.