The Lima compound where I was taken to at the night of 2 November is nothing like the one in 2006. A Department's webpage includes photos of a detainee's room and a laundry.
<http://www.border.gov.au/
The real Lima looks just like that. Other than a bunk bed and a lockable locker with a key given to me (both appearing in the Department's photo), there is a large desk with two chairs, a fan and a heater in every room. The room is probably twice as big as my bedroom in my unit.
I placed my stuff in the locker and went out to look for a phone. I did not have to look for it because there were many on the outside wall of the Lima building. Every phone had a stool in front of it. So you can sit down while talking over the phone. The roof of the building covers the phone area so that we will not be wet even if it
rains. Calls to landlines in Australia are free. But we cannot make a call to mobile phones. I think I called my Partner and asked him not to ignore calls to his landline until I find a way to call him on his mobile.
I asked a guard about the Internet. She told me that she had already made a request to the IT for a password for me so that I should become able to use the Internet on that night or in the morning of the next day. And, in fact, she delivered my username and password shortly after 10pm. So I got back online without waiting for the next morning. There are 24 computers in the Lima's computer room maybe because there are 24 rooms in the Lima compound. Not many people were using computers so that I could use it without any problems. We are allowed to access the Internet 24 hours a day.
A computer is also located in a lounge room. There is a lounge room with a two-seater, two armchairs and a TV on the wall for every six bedrooms. These six bedrooms share two toilets, two showers, two basinw and one kitchen with toaster, microwave, kettle, and a fridge and a pantry full of food. There is a dining table with six chairs, too.
Everything is just like a university college. Actually meals are just like college meals, too. Probably the average or the better than the average colleges. For lunch and dinner, there is a choice from three for the main and steamed vegetables and it always comes with salad which we can select vegetables and also a dessert and fruits.
Does it sound too good to be true? Of course. This place is great for people who decided to go home and wait for removal. But for those who decided to fight to stay on, the situation is much, much worse than that in 2006. Even with many difficulties, I could run all the court cases by myself from the inside of the detention centre in 2006. There is no way to run even one case by myself from here now.
The beautiful computer room has no printer, no scanner, no fax. The nice new computers do not have Microsoft Word or any other word processor. Downloading any application software is banned. Serco does not provide JP service. JP is available only once a week on Tuesday after 4pm.
In 2006, the computers had a pirated version of Microsoft Word (because the Government did not buy or pay subscriptions) so I could write an affidavit or any other document by myself. The computer room
had a printer so I could run it off. Guards provided JP service so that I could swear an affidavit any time to file it in time of the deadline. Now, all impossible.
It appears obvious to me that this detention centre was designed for preventing detainees from fighting in court. The nice looking facilities might have been placed in order to distract the public eyes from that fact.
<http://www.border.gov.au/
The real Lima looks just like that. Other than a bunk bed and a lockable locker with a key given to me (both appearing in the Department's photo), there is a large desk with two chairs, a fan and a heater in every room. The room is probably twice as big as my bedroom in my unit.
I placed my stuff in the locker and went out to look for a phone. I did not have to look for it because there were many on the outside wall of the Lima building. Every phone had a stool in front of it. So you can sit down while talking over the phone. The roof of the building covers the phone area so that we will not be wet even if it
rains. Calls to landlines in Australia are free. But we cannot make a call to mobile phones. I think I called my Partner and asked him not to ignore calls to his landline until I find a way to call him on his mobile.
I asked a guard about the Internet. She told me that she had already made a request to the IT for a password for me so that I should become able to use the Internet on that night or in the morning of the next day. And, in fact, she delivered my username and password shortly after 10pm. So I got back online without waiting for the next morning. There are 24 computers in the Lima's computer room maybe because there are 24 rooms in the Lima compound. Not many people were using computers so that I could use it without any problems. We are allowed to access the Internet 24 hours a day.
A computer is also located in a lounge room. There is a lounge room with a two-seater, two armchairs and a TV on the wall for every six bedrooms. These six bedrooms share two toilets, two showers, two basinw and one kitchen with toaster, microwave, kettle, and a fridge and a pantry full of food. There is a dining table with six chairs, too.
Everything is just like a university college. Actually meals are just like college meals, too. Probably the average or the better than the average colleges. For lunch and dinner, there is a choice from three for the main and steamed vegetables and it always comes with salad which we can select vegetables and also a dessert and fruits.
Does it sound too good to be true? Of course. This place is great for people who decided to go home and wait for removal. But for those who decided to fight to stay on, the situation is much, much worse than that in 2006. Even with many difficulties, I could run all the court cases by myself from the inside of the detention centre in 2006. There is no way to run even one case by myself from here now.
The beautiful computer room has no printer, no scanner, no fax. The nice new computers do not have Microsoft Word or any other word processor. Downloading any application software is banned. Serco does not provide JP service. JP is available only once a week on Tuesday after 4pm.
In 2006, the computers had a pirated version of Microsoft Word (because the Government did not buy or pay subscriptions) so I could write an affidavit or any other document by myself. The computer room
had a printer so I could run it off. Guards provided JP service so that I could swear an affidavit any time to file it in time of the deadline. Now, all impossible.
It appears obvious to me that this detention centre was designed for preventing detainees from fighting in court. The nice looking facilities might have been placed in order to distract the public eyes from that fact.