Inside Australia's Immigration Detention

Last night, I had a headache and could not sleep.  So I went to the guards' station and asked for paracetamol.  The guard telephoned a nurse who was on a break and would not return for another five minutes.  So I waited.  The guard called the nurse again but this time, the nurse was on the phone with someone.   According to the guard, one nurse is receiving all calls from all detention centres in this country so that it could take long for her to get a permission to give me paracetamol.  The guard put the phone on hold and waited for five minutes.  No signs of the nurse picking up the guard's call.  So I decided to fill in a complaint form.   I wrote the first complaint form without using my glasses.  I could not see anything well but usually, my writing is still legible.  But since it was very uncomfortable to write anything without actually seeing it, I took the case of my reading glasses out of my bag, opened the c...

Yesterday was a disaster.   After I sent you my email, put my medical request form and complaint forms in and whinged to a manager who was unluckily wandering around, I went back to bed.  After a while, a guard came to get my signature.  It was another issue which I may tell you some day.  Anyway, the guard noticed that my face was swollen!  I thought that's bad.  I didn't want half of my face paralysed.  So I went to the guards' station.  One of the guards jumped up when she saw my face (which I did not think that bad...) and persuaded a nurse to see me, thank goodness.  I went to see a nurse in the Medical Centre.  At first glance, she told me that she could tell my face swollen.  She gave me Neurofene and paracetamol and put a request for a dentist in.  She said that it was not her who decided an appointment and detainees were waiting for a dentist for years.  I thought that might be the case.  ...

Good morning.  I normally write an email to you in the evening.  But today, I am sending you this early edition because I am going back to bed.  I am falling apart.  I found bleeding from the inside of my right ear and have a swollen jaw caused by the worn out filling of one of my left side teeth.  My crankiness must have come from the physical ailment.  I have to add these items to the list of my battlegrounds against IHMS (the health service provider). Yesterday, I received a few letters from IHMS in relation to my long-standing war on glasses.  IHMS and I have been fighting since November last year.  In short, I want new glasses and theyr did not want to give them to me.   The first round of the fight was concerned with an appointment to be seen by the optometrist who visits Villawood only once a month.  I won the first round last month.  But then, IHMS informed me that it would take 6 to 8 weeks for the delivery of...

For the last two weeks, I was told by a few people that there will be a new policy on visitors.  First thing I heard was that there will be a criminal history check when applying for a visit.  Then, I was told that 100 point IDs will be required.  Then, a visitor has to apply for a visit at least five days prior to the planned visit.  Yesterday, someone told me that the success or otherwise of an application for a visit will only be told when a visitor arrives at the planned visit.  I have not had any confirmation of all these information.  So I don't know whether it is true.  But the detainees here are in a panic.   A refugee girl is worried whether her husband has 100 points of IDs.  An interstate girl is worried if her husband flies from interstate and is refused entry into the centre.  My friends here are worried whether their criminal records prevent them from keeping their promise with each other to visit each othe...

I am getting more and more tired every day.  I had a headache and sore neck this afternoon probably because of too much computer.  I went to the medical centre and asked for paracetamol.  A nurse gave me dissolvable one in a water-filled cup.  It tastes awful, made me sick. I will go to bed early...

Since I spent half a day reading cases thanks to a bitchy nurse of IHMS, the progress of my preparation for the litigation was very good.  huh!  The Acting Health Services Manager of IHMS responded to my complaint and told me that she had booked me in for an eye test today.  So I went to the medical centre at the time.  I waited for more than an hour before a nurse came to me and asked me why I came.  Great...  I told her that I had been informed by the Acting Health Services Manager of an eye test booked for me.  The nurse replied to me that there was no such an appointment.  Then five minutes later, she came back to me and told me to wait for an eye test.  I thought this sort of problem would occur.  So I had plenty of cases printed out and brought them with me to the medical centre.  The result is the good progress of my preparation for the litigation. Anyway, the nurse confirmed that there was no appointment for me with...

Today, I went to the Visit to see a Sister of a church.  I thought that the centre had introduced a new policy on 2 January to undertake a pat search of a detainee when entering into and coming out of the Visits.   At least, when I went to see visitors last week, the reception was in chaos as a result.  Today, there was no search.  No havoc.  Did they abolish the new policy in less than ten days?  Well, if so, it's good since the search was plainly meaningless but creating huge havoc and chaos.  But couldn't they think what is going to happen if they introduce such a policy BEFORE actually introducing it??? Anyway, when I was talking with the sister, I saw a guard with whom I often had a chat passing by.  I said to him, 'Hi!' and he came to join us.  I told him about my current battle against the Acting Health Services Manager who is a registered nurse.  She refused to book an optometrist for me despite that she was directed to...

My morning routine eventually came back!   Yesterday, I was told that the coffee shop would open next day to test a new barista.  But it opened yesterday by a barista with 7 years of experience outside!  Today, even an assistant started working!!  So it is now officially re-opened!!!  My morning habit of reading newspapers while sipping a coffee in an air-conditioned room came back with a pleasant chat with these really professional guys.  Actually, this guy makes really nice coffee at exactly the same standard of cafes outside!  Lucky me!!   Uh?  Oh, I failed to get a job.  Oh, what a pity.  I couldn't gain new skills.  Well, in these circumstances, unfortunately, the sum of the damages I will claim has to go up for ... ummmm ... maybe injured feelings?  Yes, injured feelings!  I am really really sorry for myself for ...  well ... the false hope of becoming a barista?  Mmmmm... Do you thi...

It was rainy this morning.  When I went out in my poncho, I met a guard who had walked into a column on Day 64.  He was wearing a hat with its brim extended by a handmade cardboard brim covered by a plastic bag!  I laughed.   He explained to me that it was not only convenient to avoid rain, it also prevents him from walking into a pole as the brim will act as a stopper!!  This guy is seriously funny. After the chat, I went to a brekkie and the hairdresser, and then came back to the compound.  That guard came wearing no hat.  I said to him, 'No hat?'  He replied, ''Cuz it's not raining anymore.'  So I said, 'It's a shame.'  He burst out laughing and said, 'You always have a word!'.  What did he mean?!  I just engaged in an ordinary meaningless conversation. I heard that two guys were sent to Christmas Island.  One building (next to Lima) was completely vacated last week.  Obviously, the centre is preparin...

This morning was not so hot as yesterday so I went to Charity Walk.  By participating in it in order to donate to a charity, I got paid.  One day, I will figure out why.... or maybe it's a forever mystery....  The money will be used to buy postage stamps sold at the shop.  A one-dollar stamp costs me 91 cents.  I have not found out why... but my guessing is that there is no GST taxed to the shop as it is not business.  My friend said to me that it was the ten percent return and hence was a good investment.  Well,,, investment sounds as if I used my capital to get the profit.  That's not quite what happened.  I paid nothing. This evening, I went to the Medical Centre to see whether my anti-depressant had arrived.  It arrived, surprisingly.  Not only that, a nurse gave me a webster pack (a medication pack for a week).  I don't know why.  It's convenient for me to have the pack but IHMS did not allow me to ...

Today, I went to the medical centre to see whether my prescribed anti-depressant which I use as anti-anxiety had arrived.  My medication is Prozac, a typical SSRI.  But somehow, it is not commonly used in Villawood.  So it has to be specially ordered for me.  It has not arrived yet.  I went the medical centre with my friend who is supposed to take a similar anti-depressant, Zoloft (sertraline).  He has never taken any anti-depressant before he got a prescription of Zoloft only about a fortnight ago.  When a nurse gave him a tablet, he said, 'That's not mine.'  Then the nurse told him that it was the medication he had been taking for the last fortnight.  Then she showed him a package.  It was a box of Seroquel!!!  I jumped up.   Seroquel is a psychotropic used for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.  It can be used as augmentation for severe depression.  But it is not the first choice drug for a mild depr...

Yesterday, I noticed one middle-aged male guard looked like he was not with it.  I asked him whether he was OK and he replied that he was just sleepy.  This morning, I witnessed him walking into a column!!!  He was definitely not all right!  I wonder whether he has the onset of something... I saw another medical problem today.  I met my next door neighbour.  She went to ... or was supposed to have gone to the hospital for an operation on the torn ligaments of her thumb yesterday.  She waited for the operation for a month with cordeine.  But according to her, she came back even before getting to the hospital.  It seems that there was a scuffle between her and escorts.  I don't know what really happened but no matter what happened, it sounds ridiculous to me to miss out the operation.  I am sure the surgeon and the hospital staff were annoyed.  No wonder this country's tax is so high. In the evening, my other side n...

I am not happy. The coffee shop in the Community is not open.  Still closed because there is no worker.  I thought there were plenty of applicants for that job, plus me.  I whinged about it to another detainee and was told that the security check usually takes a few weeks.  Security check?!!!!!  Just to make a coffee in a shop in the detention centre doesn't need a security check, does it?!!!!   It's just making espresso coffee!  Not brewing beer, you know?  What the hell is the security check for?!!!  I was amazed.   The detainee said that a barista handles boiling water so it is dangerous.  Well, boilers are in the dining rooms and we're always using them.  I have not seen or heard any accident or incident. We have kettles in the kitchen, too.  What's the difference?  Everybody here was well tested for that kind of risk.  Gee... There was another bewildering story.  One detaine...

Oh, it's nice to have the latest browser!  This should be installed in all  the computers, not be limited to the one designated for my use.  It is  also wrong  that only I have a computer specifically reserved for me.  But I decided  not to complain about it, at least for the moment. I received an email written by a counsel who was considering whether  to accept my pro bono brief.  He was apparently interested in my case  since he seems to have done a database search to find the court date  by himself. In the end, he declined with the statement that he thinks  my case needs 'resources'.  (*Resources means money.)  As soon as  people learned that I am a Japanese, they believed that they can  extract money from me.  Sorry, mate.  I have no money. In the evening, I went to the Medical Centre to get anti-depressant  which I use as  anti-anxiety.  I only take it when I feel like it,...

Yesterday, my guinea pig boy became five months old.  So I sent  an email to my friend who is looking after my piggie and asked her to give  a cuddle to him from me.  She sent me his photos today.  He now looks more  matured.  He is growing up well.  That's what I thought when I looked  at today's photos.  Maybe all in my mind since it's only the eleventh  day since I saw him last at home.  But my piggie in the photos looked less  confident than before.  Again, it may be all in my mind but it broke my  heart.  I have to get out of here to go to pick him up. I started checking the Federal Court's database and discovered that my  case was docketed to a good judge who has a track record of trying to  save even fairly hopeless applicants.  (My case is an easy case for me though.)  He usually works quickly, too.  In cases  like mine, some judge could reserve the judgment and s...

This morning, I was told by a guard that I would relocate to another  room back on the ground floor.  I was first assigned to a room on the  ground floor when arrived in this Centre.  But the ground floor was reserved for high risk  detainees basically those who came here directly from a  prison.  So I was shifted to the upstairs on the next day.  When I  asked a guard at that time whether I could have a room on the ground floor (which was more  convenient for me for all sorts of reasons) if I wish, I was told that  I could not.  So I have been on level 2 since then.   Despite that, someone decided to shift me back to the  ground floor again!  Well, going downstairs is OK but relocating from  one place to another every week is not.  Two guards came to carry my  stuff but they left after delivering my stuff.  I had to unpack them all by myself.  Annoying... Today, somehow, I did not...

Day 7.  I started very early.  At around 6:30am, I asked the guards to  scan a rather large number of papers.  They did not refuse to do it  this morning.  That's good. I spend almost all day in shuffling papers to look for a pro bono  counsel both in Queensland and New South Wales.  My case is currently  in the Queensland Registry of the Federal Court.  But because I am  here, if I find a lawyer here, the case can be easily transferred to New South Wales.  If I find a lawyer in Queensland, the matter will  stay there as my attendance is not necessary in this case.  A few  organisations are considering my case in both States and I also made a  few enquiries to lawyers whom I personally know.  So far, I was  knocked back by one in Queensland and one in New South Wales.  So two  down, but several more to go. My peaceful day lasted until I heard a detainee's voice calling me. ...