Another day and another serious allegation:
A former Serco employee at Curtin Detention Centre says treatment of detainees by some staff members was “outrageously brutal” and they were bullied constantly.
Seven asylum seekers were flown from Curtin and put in isolation on Christmas Island on Tuesday night because of increased tensions at the remote centre, 40km from Derby.
The Immigration Department confirmed two men tried to escape on Friday. They climbed an internal fence but did not get past the electric perimeter fence.
A spokeswoman denied the men were injured in the incident and said they were not among three detainees denied treatment at Broome Hospital on Tuesday for speaking to a member of the public in a waiting room.
The former employee, who recently resigned and asked not to be named, spoke of growing tensions at Curtin where there were three staff who had “no training, no idea and no perceived intention to provide any welfare” to detainees.
“The fact two Serco guards have committed suicided since April is evidence that not everyone can live with this on their conscience,” they said.