Two men accused of killing family members have been placed in the same cell twice since being transferred to the Quinte Detention Centre while awaiting trial, say media reports.

The court has said the two cannot be in contact.

On Tuesday, Hamed Shafia, 18, and Momammad Shafia, 56, were placed in the same isolation cell after the younger Shafia was assaulted by other inmates over the weekend.

The men were also put in the same cell when they first arrived at the Quinte Detention Centre in Napanee, Ont., according to the Kingston Whig Standard.

Hamed's lawyer Jean-Claude Dube told the newspaper he did not know why the detention centre had put the two in the same cell, given a court order stating the two cannot be in communication.

The paper is reporting that Mohammad Shafia was transferred to the Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre on Wednesday.

Hamed Shafia and Mohammad Shafia are both awaiting trial on four counts of murder and four counts of conspiracy to commit murder each in the deaths of Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17 and Geeti, 13, who are the sisters and daughters of Hamed Shafia and Mohammad Shafia. Also dead is Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, who is thought to be the first wife of Mohammad.

Also awaiting trial in the case is Tooba Yahya, 39, thought to be Mohammad's second wife and the biological mother of the children.