Conditions in detention centres `appalling'

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE, OCT. 30. An Australian prison watchdog has lambasted conditions in immigration detention centres as the country's navy ``rescued'' 229 asylum-seekers off Christmas Island today.

The Australian authorities said the asylum seekers were rescued after their boat began to take water. They are being taken to Christmas Island and an announcement on their fate made soon, the Australian Immigration Minister, Mr. Philip Ruddock, said.

In the meantime, the Western Australian Inspector of Custodial Services, Prof. Richard Harding, said today that detention centres for asylum seekers were ``unacceptably overcrowded'' and that medical services were ``disgracefully inadequate''.

Prof. Harding, speaking at a meeting of the International Corrections and Prisons Association in Perth, called for an independent inspection system to be set up in view of the lack of accountability.

``It is no coincidence that riots occur in a system that lacks accountability,'' the Professor was quoted as saying.

His remarks come as a major blow to the Australian Government's repeated claims that it treated the ``irregular migrants'' in a humane fashion.

``Anyone who knows the simplest thing about prison riots knows also that unacceptable conditions against which there is no recourse. ...are the precursor of riots,'' he said.

``We do not have riots in our detention centres because we have a riotous group of refugees. We have them because we run appalling systems,'' Prof. Harding stated.

There have been repeated riots and hunger-strikes by inmates in these detention centres. All irregular asylum-seekers must face mandatory detention on arrival.

``Australia's reputation for fairness and accountability has been besmirched over the last two or three years,'' Prof. Harding stated. ``It will never be rectified until the main policies on refugees are sorted out,'' he added.

Prof. Harding said the education services on offer to inmates were ``largely a charade''.

He said there was also evidence that detainees, who wanted to complain about conditions, were intimidated by detention centre staff.

Mr. Ruddock has denied Prof. Harding's claims that conditions in the detention centres were ``disgraceful''.

``In terms of the way in which people are detained, our approach is humane, people do get a higher level of service and I would say in relation to dental and medical services, the level of service available to detainees would be of a higher order than many people in regional and remote Australia receive,'' he was quoted as saying.

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Section  : International
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