The Victorian opposition has moved to cool the political temperature around crime and corrections, calling for a "dramatic" bipartisan overhaul of the state’s bulging prisons system.

Responding to revelations in The Age about the explosion in Victoria’s prison population, corrections spokesman David Southwick said the Opposition backed a broad, all-party review aimed at slashing the number of prisoners in custody.

A cell block inside the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, Victoria's main women's prison. Credit:Ari Hatzis

“The best way to cut prison costs is to keep people out of them. We need a rethink on how to keep at-risk people, especially women and youth, out of the justice system,” Mr Southwick said.

The escalating prisoner numbers and recidivism rate was evidence the system was broken, he said. Half of Victoria’s prisoners have been to jail at least once before.