A series of catastrophic security failures involving the US private prison company running Australia’s immigration detention centres has allowed the escape of high-risk detainees, caused ill-equipped staff to be stabbed and hospitalised, and triggered multiple investigations, one of which warned its “minimalist staffing model” was putting workers and detainees at risk.
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Jonathan Hall Spence, a principal solicitor at the Justice and Equity Centre, said a blanket policy of handcuffing people for transfers was “almost certainly unlawful”.
“Without a specific and immediate risk, it’s doubtful the use of handcuffs could be justified as ‘reasonably necessary’, which is the requirement under current laws,” he said.
On 14 April the Justice and Equity Centre wrote to the home affairs minister and the general counsel of Secure Journeys, warning that a detainee handcuffed under a blanket policy “could well have claims of assault, battery and false imprisonment” against the company and the government. There has been no response.
“People in detention shouldn’t be suffering because the contractor can’t get itself sorted to do transfers safely and properly,” Hall Spence told Guardian Australia. “They’re receiving more than $2bn to perform these services.”
