Self-harm, Suicide, Sexual Assault and Drug Addiction in Australia’s Detention Centres

More evidence of the worsening conditions in Australian detention centres has been revealed in recent weeks with reports of suicide, self-harm, sexual assault and drug addiction.

A recent Parliamentary committee was told that there had been 289 cases of people hurting themselves in detention centres between July and October this year.  The committee was also told that 451 people had been diagnosed with a mental illness and 228 were receiving anti-psychotic medication.

The deteriorating conditions were highlighted this week by the death of a refugee from Sri Lanka.  The Tamil man in his mid-20s had been in detention for over two years and was recently moved to the family compound at Villawood Detention Centre.  He had been granted refugee status about three months ago.

The man was still being held in detention after being granted refugee status because the Government was waiting for an ASIO security assessment before releasing him.  The Refugee Action Coalition says that “there are over 1500 people, accepted as refugees, being held in detention waiting for ASIO security assessments.”

The Refugee Action Coalition said that the man’s suicide might have been triggered when his request to be released to attend a Hindu festival was denied.  "Whether that was the final straw, it's impossible to know," they said.

This was the sixth suicide in detention in Australia, and the fourth in the Villawood detention centre since September 2010.

Meanwhile an Australian news programme has provided a graphic account of life for people waiting in detention.  In interviews with staff and asylum seekers waiting to find out if they’ll be accepted as refugees detention centres are compared with prisons and even Guantanamo Bay.  It is claimed that mental illness, suicide attempts and self-harm are widespread and many people are unable to lead normal lives, even after they have been released.

A nurse at the Northern Detention Centre in Darwin said that teenagers who moved from the Darwin Airport Lodge to the Detention Centre when they turned 18 were at risk of sexual assault.  "There were a lot of allegations of sexual abuse going on there […] and I would suspect a lot of that was true by seeing the patients' reactions."

There have also been reports about the distribution of sedatives, sleeping pills and powerful painkillers inside detention centres.

One refugee says the pills are handed out by medical authorities inside detention centres.  The man, who spent nearly two years in detention, says the pills make detainees "like robots" and leave them with drug problems which need more treatment even if they are released into the community.

An Australian reporter says one of the biggest problems facing psychiatrists working in detention centres is a widespread culture of sleeplessness.  The journalist reported that mental health nurses in the detention centre use the medication to manage detainees.  She claims that medical company that looks after the mental health of people in detention cannot manage the numbers of people who are depressed and suffering from ongoing sleeplessness and insomnia.

“The short-term solution they've come up with is to prescribe large quantities of Mirtazapine which is actually an antidepressant.”

Some refugees, such as Afghan man Hamid Amiri, took anti-depressant medication while in Curtin Detention Centre and still requires medication despite having been released from detention more than a month ago.

Refugee advocates protested against mandatory detention at the Sydney office of the Department of Immigration on the 26^th of October.  The protest called for an end to offshore processing and for the release of asylum seekers from detention so their claims can be processed while they live and work in the community.  

The protesters also said they were supporting the rooftop protest of a Rohingyan refugee in Darwin’s Northern Detention Centre.  The man has been granted refugee status but has been waiting for two years for his security clearance.

Conditions in detention are likely to worsen as more people try to get to Australia by boat and are detained in already crowded detention centres.