Serco officer charged as rampant drug use in detention centres exposed

A Serco employee has been criminally charged during a corruption investigation into drug trafficking in Melbourne’s immigration detention centre, amid revelations that illicit substances are rife in facilities around the country.

An investigation by this masthead into conditions in Australia’s privately run centres found detainees are openly growing marijuana plants in their rooms at Sydney’s Villawood detention centre, as Australian Border Force conceded drug and alcohol use have led to violent and dangerous conditions.

Detainees say drugs are readily accessible in detention centres, and that drug use is ignored by some guards. Credit:

In a statement, a Border Force spokesperson confirmed the “significant infiltration” of illicit drugs into immigration detention, with “the use of alcohol home brew kits” also common inside the centres.

“As such, there has been a notable increase in substance-related incidents and regular threats and acts of violence against detainees, staff and contractors,” the spokesperson said.

Drugs enter the facilities via a network of guards, cleaners and detainees through visiting centres or drones that drop packages over security fences at night, according to sources from centres in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Laws introduced in 2014 made visa cancellations mandatory for non-citizens sentenced to more than 12 months in prison. As a result, more than 90 per cent of detainees have criminal records and are detained while they fight deportation.

Serco guard Dean Heywood faces allegations of drug trafficking inside a Melbourne immigration detention centre.Credit: Twitter

Border Force noted the detention population included people with “serious convictions” and “outlaw motorcycle gang members”. Among that population, this masthead has also confirmed there are detainees who spend longer in immigration detention than they did in prison for non-violent offences.

This masthead can reveal Serco employee Dean Heywood, 32, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday for a committal mention after being charged in July with two counts of abusing public office.

The Commonwealth issued a warrant last year to search Melbourne’s immigration detention centre – known as the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation – and seize amphetamines, cocaine, cannabinoids and heroin, as well as scales, mobile telephones, computers, handwritten notes and Serco records, according to documents seen by this masthead.

A marijuana plant photographed inside a Villawood Immigration Detention Centre cell, according to sources.Credit:

Heywood’s bank records, diaries and receipts were targeted under the warrant as part of an investigation into his role in trafficking drugs of dependence for monetary gain through the facility, according to confidential sources.

According to confidential sources, it is alleged Heywood’s offending occurred between July 2020 and January 2022 in the Broadmeadows facility that accommodates 206 people, according to August statistics, with the average time in detention being 708 days.

Serco declined to comment on the case.

“We take any complaints or reports of inappropriate or illegal activity seriously and report such matters to the Australian Border Force and legal authorities,” a Serco spokesperson said.

Heywood’s case was adjourned until next year, and he is yet to enter a plea.

The drug-trafficking probe detailed in confidential documents and by multiple sources was initially led by the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity, which investigates corruption within law enforcement agencies, but was taken over by the National Anti-Corruption Commission when it was established last year.

The commission was formed after a years-long political debate around integrity in parliament and has a mandate to investigate allegations of systemic corruption in the Commonwealth public sector. It had received 494 referrals as of July yet none have been made public until now.

Detainees around the country, speaking anonymously because they do not want to harm their chances of remaining in Australia, claim drugs are easily accessible, and expose people to addiction relapse, mental illness and violence.

Video footage and photographs, obtained by this masthead, show marijuana plants about one metre tall kept inside detainee cell bathrooms and smaller plants being grown from garden patches in common areas at Villawood Immigration Detention Centre.

One detainee has spent more than two years in immigration detention after finishing a four-year prison sentence for drug charges. He said he had beaten his ice addiction in prison but now spent more than $1000 a week on drugs.

He said guards “look the other way”, with drug-taking occurring from cell bedrooms. He said the uncertainty about his future had caused a relapse and there was a reluctance among detainees to engage in drug and alcohol counselling services because it could form part of the government’s case to deport them.

“It just does your head in. If you don’t know when you’re getting released, you don’t know what’s happening, nobody tells you anything,” he said. “In prison, you know when your release date is, so you can plan your release date. Here, it’s more of a lifetime sentence. You don’t know when you’re getting out. People have been in for years.”

A New Zealand mother detained at the Melbourne immigration detention centre for two years after serving a one-year prison sentence for evading arrest while intoxicated said she regularly observed “strange behaviour” among detainees.

“People are just roaming around lifeless,” she said.

While prison is designed as a punitive environment for people convicted of crimes, immigration detention is administrative in nature and detainees have greater rights.

The Border Force spokesperson said it had “limited powers in place” to search for and seize illicit substances in detention centres, but its “officers work tirelessly to ensure safety and security is maintained”.

“A prison-like culture has developed within the immigration detention system, with criminal standover tactics often used,” the spokesperson said.

“The ABF invests significant resources to provide high-quality amenities and a broad range of services and activities to detainees within immigration detention facilities.”

This masthead has previously revealed details of a secret government review into the deaths of two refugees, Milad Aljaberi and Moses Kellie, in 2019. It found both had easy access to crystal methamphetamine, but there were no efforts by Home Affairs or its service providers to disrupt this.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles and Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil declined to comment.

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