Underworld kingpin George Marrogi says prison staff spruced up the yards he's been confined to for nine years before a judge's visit.

"They cleaned them for the first time since 2006 on the 10th of September, but everything else has remained the same," he told Victoria's Supreme Court on Monday.

The 36-year-old murderer who was jailed over the daylight shooting of Kadir Ors in 2016 has sued the Department of Justice in his fight for more freedom in custody.

His barrister Sarala Fitzgerald alleged he had not been allowed to be in the open air for at least an hour each day or get dressed in private after strip-searches, and had been held in solitary confinement for 18 months.

The department's barrister Thomas Wood objected to Marrogi's allegations, saying Justice Claire Harris can make h

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