She has been ordered to return to New Zealand.
The Australian reported Brown lodged a complaint against the government, arguing that her time in detention was unnecessarily stressful, excessive and humiliating. She said she was placed with male detainees who exposed themselves to her and made frequent comments of a sexual nature.
In her report, AHRC president Catherine Branson said Brown should have been placed in community detention.
She called on the government to offer Brown A$450,000 in compensation and a formal apology, The Australian reported.
A spokesman for Australian Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said the government would do no such thing.
"The minister completely rejects the AHRC's finding in this case.
"Ms Brown will not be receiving compensation or an apology.
"This person has a very serious criminal record and had her visa cancelled on character grounds."
Brown moved to Australia in 1997. Although born in Samoa, she used the passport of her adopted New Zealand after gaining citizenship. Brown moved to the suburb of Airds, southwest of Sydney, where she came to dominate the local criminal scene, styling herself as the Queen of Airds. A year later, her son Prince joined her from Auckland.
It took 18 months for each of them to appear before the courts.
Maria Brown faced drug and stolen property charges in 1999, and Prince Brown faced a slew of charges in the juvenile courts a year later. Evidence of these and other convictions were presented at an appeal against deportation in February 2009.
Their records depict a lifestyle of crime - a persistent and unrelenting pattern of behaviour that, in the words of witnesses, terrorised an entire suburb.
Raewyn Leota, a New Zealand friend of Maria Brown, said she expected the deported family would settle in Mangere or Otara.
