Last month, in another bid to draw attention to their plight, detainees at the Port Hedland camp set fires in buildings. Refugees released from the camp have reported that inmates have been beaten with clubs, placed in isolation cells and verbally harassed and intimidated. Since mass protest breakouts at Port Hedland, Derby and Woomera earlier this year, the government has increased security and repression. Three layers of fencing, with razor and barbed wire, now surround Woomera. The WSWS has previously reported that detainees are forcibly injected with drugs to render them unconscious during deportation.
Further evidence suggests that such drugs are being used inside the camps as well.
In October the Sydney Morning Herald reported the use of excessive force and drugs to silence inmates against their will at the Villawood detention centre in Sydney. One of the nurses who have spoken out has accused politicians on all sides of failing to act. She said she had written to Minister Ruddock, opposition leader Kim Beazley and Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett offering to substantiate a series of incidents. Following the latest revelations, the Labor and Democrats leaders have criticised the government's handling of the issue. They do not oppose the underlying policy of mandatory detention, however.