Baxter detainees take control of compound

Baxter detainees take control of compound

Media Alert

Thursday March 18 2004

Reports have just come to hand that detainees in the WHITE TWO compound at the Baxter have taken control of the compound after fighting and arguments with detention managers Group 4 broke out overnight.

Reportedly one of the detainees had become suicidal and Group 4 staff had attempted to take him by force into the "management unit" - the solitary isolation cells, elsewhere in the detention facility.

Other residents of the White Two compound who stood by the distressed detainee in White Two - the compound is a single men's section - refused this action by staff and a conflict arose where they succeeded in blocking the removal of the suicidal resident. Detainees report that they now are "in control" of the compound.

Since this incident refugee advocates who attempted phone calls to this section have been told by Baxter management that they are unable to put the calls through to White Two "because of an electrical fault".

ENDS

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