This is a list of current and former Australian immigration detention facilities . Immigration detention facilities are used to house people in immigration detention, and people detained under the Pacific Solution, and Operation Sovereign Borders.
Most facilities were operated by Australasian Correctional Management (a subsidiary of G4S) under contract from the Department of Immigration until 2003, when ACM exited the market. Between 2003 and 2009, G4S was appointed as the contractor to manage a large number of facilities. Its contract was not renewed and in 2009 Serco Australia was awarded a five-year contract. The offshore processing centres on Nauru and Manus were operated by Broadspectrum (formerly known as Transfield Services), with security sub-contracted to Wilson Security, and later by Canstruct International. The new centres in Lorengau have security by Paladin Group.
Australian government immigration detention centres in Australia and offshore | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Facility | Status | Classification | Managed | Opened | Closed | Capacity nominal; [surge] | Location |
Baxter Immigration Reception and Processing Centre | Closed | Maximum | Australasian Correctional Management (G4S subsidiary) | September 2002 | August 2007 | 660; [220] | Cultana, South Australia |
Christmas Island Immigration Reception and Processing Centre | Operational | Maximum | G4Sserco and mss security sec s10, [1] then Serco | 2001–2008 (temporary), 2008–present | 800; [688] | Christmas Island | |
Cocos Island Contingency Reception Centre | Closed | Maximum | Australasian Correctional Management (G4S subsidiary)serco and mss security | September 2001 | March 2002 | West Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands | |
Curtin Immigration Reception and Processing Centre | Closed | Maximum | Serco subcontractors mss security | April 2010 (reopened) | September 2014 | 1,500 | RAAF Curtin, Western Australia |
Darwin Alternative Place of Detention | Opening [2] | Medium | Department of Immigration and Border Protection | 585 | Darwin Airport, Northern Territory | ||
Inverbrackie Alternative Place of Detention | Closed | Medium | Serco | 18 December 2010 | Mid 2014 | 400 | Woodside, South Australia |
Leonora Alternative Place of Detention [3] | Closed | Medium | Serco | 2010 | 2014 | 210 | Leonora, Western Australia |
Manus Regional Processing Centre [4] | Closed | Maximum | G4S, then Broadspectrum with security subcontracted to Wilson Security [5] | 2001–2004, 2012– October 2017 | 31 October 2017 | 1100 [6] | Los Negros Island, Manus Province, Papua New Guinea |
East Lorengau Refugee Transit Centre | Operational | Medium | Security and some services by Paladin Group | 2017 | 213 [7] or possibly 280 [8] | Lorengau, Manus Province, Papua New Guinea | |
West Lorengau Haus | Operational | Medium | Security and some services by Paladin Group | 2018 | 111 [7] | Lorengau, Manus Province, Papua New Guinea | |
Hillside Haus | Operational | Medium | Security and some services by Paladin Group | 2018 | 98 [7] | Lorengau, Manus Province, Papua New Guinea | |
Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre | Closed [9] | Maximum | Global Solutions (former G4S subsidiary). [10] | 1983 | 2018 | 75; [5] | Maribyrnong, Victoria |
Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation | Open | ? | Serco | 2008 | 396 [11] | Broadmeadows, Victoria [12] | |
Nauru Regional Processing Centre | Operational | Maximum | Broadspectrum with security subcontracted to Wilson Security, [13] [5] and then later Canstruct (October 2017 – November 2018) | 2001–2008, 2012–present [14] | 1,200 | Nauru | |
Northern Immigration Detention Centre | Operational | Maximum | Department of Immigration and Border Protection | August 2001 | 382; [164] | Coonawarra, Northern Territory | |
Perth Immigration Detention Centre | Operational | Maximum | Department of Immigration and Border Protection | 1981 | 55; [9] | Perth Airport, Western Australia | |
Pontville Immigration Detention Centre [3] | Closed | Medium | Serco | August 2011 | September 2013 | 400 | Brighton Army Camp, Pontville, Tasmania |
Port Augusta Immigration Residential Housing [3] | Closed | Medium | Serco | 2010 | 2014 | 64 | Port Augusta, South Australia |
Port Hedland Immigration Reception and Processing Centre | Closed | Maximum | Australasian Correctional Management (G4S subsidiary) | 1991 | April 2003 | 600 | Port Hedland, Western Australia |
Scherger Immigration Detention Centre [3] | Closed | Maximum | Serco | 2010 | 2014 | 596 | RAAF Scherger, Queensland |
Sydney Immigration Residential Housing | Operational | Medium | Serco [15] | 2006 | 48 | Villawood, New South Wales | |
Villawood Immigration Detention Centre | Operational | Maximum | Serco [16] | 1981 | 510; [190] | Villawood, New South Wales | |
Wickham Point Immigration Detention Centre | Closed | Maximum | Department of Immigration and Border Protection | 8 December 2011 | July 2016 | 1,000 | Wickham, Northern Territory |
Woomera Immigration Reception and Processing Centre | Closed | Maximum | Australasian Correctional Management (G4S subsidiary) | November 1999 | April 2003 | 1,500 | Woomera, South Australia |
Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre | Operational | Maximum | Serco [17] | 27 June 2012 | 600 | Northam, Western Australia |
Serco Group plc is a British multinational defence, health, space, justice, migration, customer services, and transport company. It is headquartered in Hook, Hart, England. The company operates in Continental Europe, the Middle East, the Asia Pacific region, including Australia and Hong Kong, and North America. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
A private prison, or for-profit prison, is a place where people are imprisoned by a third party that is contracted by a government agency. Private prison companies typically enter into contractual agreements with governments that commit prisoners and then pay a per diem or monthly rate, either for each prisoner in the facility, or for each place available, whether occupied or not. Such contracts may be for the operation only of a facility, or for design, construction and operation.
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Australian immigration detention facilities comprise a number of different facilities throughout Australia, including the Australian territory of Christmas Island. Such facilities also exist in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, namely the Nauru Regional Processing Centre and the Manus Regional Processing Centre.
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Broadspectrum, formerly known as Transfield Services, was an Australian and New Zealand company that provided infrastructure maintenance services. Formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, and later owned by Ferrovial, it was then acquired by Ventia who integrated Broadspectrum alongside Visionstream.
The Australian government has a policy and practice of detaining in immigration detention facilities non-citizens not holding a valid visa, suspected of visa violations, illegal entry or unauthorised arrival, and those subject to deportation and removal in immigration detention until a decision is made by the immigration authorities to grant a visa and release them into the community, or to repatriate them to their country of origin/passport. Persons in immigration detention may at any time opt to voluntarily leave Australia for their country of origin, or they may be deported or given a bridging or temporary visa. In 1992, Australia adopted a mandatory detention policy obliging the government to detain all persons entering or being in the country without a valid visa, while their claim to remain in Australia is processed and security and health checks undertaken. Also, at the same time, the law was changed to permit indefinite detention, from the previous limit of 273 days. The policy was instituted by the Keating government in 1992, and was varied by the subsequent Howard, Rudd, Gillard, Abbott, Turnbull, Morrison and Albanese Governments. The policy is regarded as controversial and has been criticised by a number of organisations. In 2004, the High Court of Australia confirmed the constitutionality of indefinite mandatory detention of non-citizens in Al-Kateb v Godwin. However, this interpretation was overturned in a landmark decision, NZYQ v Minister for Immigration, in 2023, with the High Court concluding the practice was unlawful and unconstitutional.
North West Point Immigration Detention Centre, formerly Christmas Island Immigration Reception and Processing Centre is an Australian immigration detention facility located on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.
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