Detainees tell of Christmas Island punishment

DETAINEES have described punitive measures on Christmas Island, saying it is becoming a destination for naughty asylum-seekers.

DETAINEES have described punitive measures on Christmas Island, saying the Australian territory is becoming the destination for "naughty" asylum-seekers.

The Immigration Department said last night claims there was a regime of rewards and punishments across the nation's immigration detention centres -- reported in The Australian on Tuesday -- were "pure fiction".

"There is no such policy," a spokesman said.

But detainees contacted by The Australian have told how the threat of being sent to the Christmas Island detention centre's high-security White or Red blocks is used to control noncompliant detainees. Restrictive accommodation is sometimes the safest place for detainees at risk of self-harm, this newspaper has been told. The Red Block is the most restrictive. A security upgrade is under way at White Block.

"Serco uses White compound as a place for keeping 'naughty' ones," one detainee said in an email this week.

The detainee said there were four sections within White labelled A to D. He said people in A block were allowed into a small area in front of their rooms for two hours a day. People in B were allowed out for four hours and people in C were allowed out for eight hours. There was no TV in blocks A and B, he claimed.

"They normally keep people in each block for two weeks, but only if they don't make any trouble," the detainee wrote. "If they do make any trouble they will be sent to A block, and they have to spend two weeks in each block again.

"After that they are allowed to go back to their former compounds like a normal person, but they will be considered as high risk which means they won't be transferred to mainland centres and they are not allowed to go out of detention centre for excursions, for at least three months, and the other limitations."

The department says "all client detainees are made aware upon entering the network, and are reminded from time to time, about our expectations regarding the importance of their compliant behaviour".

Another detainee on Christmas Island said asylum-seekers from mainland detention centres were flown back to the island if they had behaved poorly or tried to harm themselves.

The Immigration spokesman said decisions on detainee placements were driven by operational priorities taking into account safety, security and the wellbeing of all detainees and staff.