Controversial Border Force takes control of detention centres, turns them
into 'jails'
Environment and immigration
correspondent
The Australian Border Force
has taken control of the nation's immigration detention centres, implementing a
"command and control" regime that has allegedly overseen the
hand-cuffing of mentally ill detainees travelling to counselling and banning
outings for children.
The Border Force, the
military-style government outfit which in August proposed random visa checks
that forced a Melbourne police operation to be aborted, confirmed it has taken
"a more active role" in managing onshore detention centres
since the force was established in July. This includes a "more uniform
approach to managing the safety and security of detainees".
The Border Force this
week confirmed it had cancelled a program run by nuns at the Melbourne
Immigration and Transit Accommodation centre [MITA], which involved taking
children outside the facility for picnics, ice-cream and trips to the
playground or the zoo.
A Border Force spokesman said
the outings also involved adult detainees and were scrapped due
to "lack of proper oversight". He said community excursions
still occur, supervised by trained staff.
Refugee advocate Pamela Curr
said security provisions in detention centres such as MITA were "being
stepped up to an unbelievable level" and detainees
say "every day a new rule is being brought in".
She said one badly ill man
with poor kidney function was restrained during a visit to a specialist doctor,
which prevented him from giving a urine sample because "the guards would
not undo the handcuffs".
Another man was forced to
undergo a hand X-ray while wearing handcuffs and women leaving the detention
centre for a medical appointment or counselling were forced to undergo
pat-downs, Ms Curr said.
"That means women guards
run their hands over their breasts, their bottom, their legs,"
she said, saying this had induced panic attacks in detainees with a
history of being sexually abused.
Ms Curr said a fence more than
four metres high had been built at MITA, and "children are now virtually
living in a prison".
Visiting time was now highly
regulated and children leaving the centre to attend school were accompanied by
uniformed guards, causing them to be ridiculed by other children, she said. The
Border Force confirmed a perimeter fence had been improved
after a number of escapes from MITA, and did not deny the other
allegations.
Amnesty International
Australia refugee coordinator Graham Thom said security in detention centres
was also heightened after detainees with criminal histories flooded the system.
Under recent laws, people can
have their visas cancelled if they have been sentenced to 12 months or
more in prison.
"We have great concerns
about what that is doing to safety, and the increased security and therefore
the mental health of asylum seekers in detention," Dr Thom said.
Dr Thom said he had heard
anecdotal reports of a more "hands on" approach to security,
including towards mentally ill detainees.
"Not only are people more
routinely being handcuffed but … while they are outside the centre, a staff
person has to have a physical hand on the individual when taking them to
counselling," he said.
"You can only imagine the
increased stress and pressure that puts on somebody."
Refugee advocate Jane Healey
said there had been a "marked" increase in security under Border
Force, including greater force towards detainees, more asylum seekers being
placed in isolation and tighter visitor security.
The Border Force spokesman
said it took a "compassionate approach to the care of those in
detention".
"The ABF and its service
providers work together in the management of detention centres, with security
and safety of detainees, personnel and visitors the key priority," he
said.
Meanwhile, more than 3150
doctors and other health professionals have signed a petition calling on the
federal government to immediately release children and their families from
immigration detention.
Sydney Children's Hospital
paediatrician Karen Zwi, one of the petition's organisers, said the signatories
were concerned at the time children had spent in detention.
"There appears to be no
resolution to these circumstances ... and we know more harm is produced as
children stay longer in detention," she said.
The government has previously
said many children were in detention because their parents were subject to
adverse security assessments.
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