Despite the introduction of the two compounds many of the women in Cowan told the Commission they still felt unsafe at VIDC. For example, one woman told the Commission that, ‘[i]n Villawood people keep screaming and pounding on doors. In jail it’s better – there’s more cameras and safety buttons, it’s dangerous here’. Another woman shared similar sentiments saying, ‘I felt safer in prison because bullies were separated’. At both BRP and PIDC, women also told the Commission they did not want to be transferred to VIDC. One woman at BRP told the Commission she was reluctant to make complaints for fear of being sent to VIDC. She said, ‘if I ruffle the wrong feathers, I’ll get sent to Villawood. No one wants to go there’. VIDC is a challenging environment in which to be accommodated (for both men and women) and the Commission acknowledges it is equally challenging for staff to manage. VIDC has experienced the highest proportion of assault complaints of any detention centre between 2019— 2023 (except for 2022); these have ranged between 24% and 42% of the total detention population.190 During the Commission’s 2017 inspection it reported that for ‘many of the people interviewed safety was clearly a significant or even their primary concern. Many reported that they did not feel safe and believed that they were at risk of physical violence from other people in detention. They reported having been assaulted or threatened with violence, or witnessing violence among others’.191 During the Commission’s 2019 inspection it also noted that for many people ‘the prevalence of self-harm and suicide [was] a factor thatand made them feel unsafe’.192incidents at VIDC and total of all detention centres Figure 9: Self-harm actual self-harm threatened (Financial year 2019-2020 — 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 [to 31 March])7 Figure 9: Self-harm actual and self-harm threatened incidents at VIDC and total of all detention centres (Financial year 2019—2020 — 2022—2023 and 2023—2024 [to 31 March])193 600 523 500 462 442 400 345 300 248 185 200 195 171 100 242 73 150 63 35 2019-2020 Self-Harm (VIDC) 2020-2021 Self-Harm (All Detention) 104 98 69 34 0 193 173 2021-2022 Self-Harm Threatened (VIDC) 27 2022-2023 2023-2024 Self-Harm Threatened (All Detention) As Figure 9 and Table 2 demonstrate, VIDC has consistently experienced high numbers of self-harm actual and self-harm threatened incidents as a proportion of the total detention population’s self-harm actual and self-harm threatened incidents. 52 Not just an afterthoughtThe experience of women in immigration detention