Human rights commissioner, Lorraine Finlay, inspected detention hotels with Prof Suresh Sundram, the head of the department of psychiatry at Monash University, and found “entrenched boredom, loneliness, frustration and apathy” among detainees.
Some reported they felt they were better off in prison or immigration detention centres, where they had access to activities, exercise and fresh air.
At the time of the commission’s inspections in mid-2022, the longest continuous detention in a hotel was 634 days and the average time was 69 days.