4. Releases from Hotel APODs From December 2020 onwards, the total number of people detained in hotel APODs has declined dramatically. In particular, the majority of individuals who formed part of the Medevac cohort have been released from hotel APODs into alternative community-based arrangements. For example, as at 31 December 2020 there were 182 individuals detained in APODs.95 As at 31 January 2023, this number had dropped to 29 individuals being detained in APODs.96 Of particular note is the changing nature of the cohort held in APODs, which has shifted from being predominantly the Medevac cohort to now being primarily those whose visas have been cancelled based on character or related grounds under s 501 of the Migration Act. The majority of the Medevac cohort were released from hotel APODs across 2021 and 2022, with 157 unauthorised maritime arrivals being held in APODs as at 31 December 2020 and fewer than 5 continuing to be detained in APODs (all in Queensland) as at 31 January 2023. These releases occurred gradually across this period, with the majority occurring in early 2021 and with small numbers of detainees being released each time. For example, 9 people were released from the Melbourne APOD on 3 March 2022, following by another ten people on 1 April 2022 and another eight people on 7 April 2022.97 4.1 The Role of Ministerial Discretion The progressive release of the Medevac cohort from hotel APODs into alternative communitybased arrangements was the result of ministerial intervention. The powers of the Minister to decide who is released from detention, and the conditions of their release, have been described as ‘God-like’.98 There was no official explanation given for these releases, nor was there any objective criteria that appeared to guide the identification of the specific individuals to be released on each occasion. Many of those released had similar circumstances to those who remained in detention. The releases were described to us by one community service organisation as having ‘occurred arbitrarily under a veil of secrecy’. From the outside, the process appeared to have no discernible pattern. The people that we interviewed who were released under this process commonly remarked that they did not understand why some had been selected for release, while others remained in detention. One individual remarked that ‘‘the slow drip of releases was very cruel and humiliating … and people were on tenterhooks for days wondering if it was going to be them next time or not’. Some community service organisations providing support to individuals released from the Melbourne APOD reported that they observed increased mental health issues amongst the latter group released ‘and we wonder if it is due to the ad hoc nature of the release of these groups and this cohort being left behind each time’. This was just another example of the continuing uncertainty about the future experienced by individuals detained in hotel APODs. For example, one individual who had been detained in a hotel APOD described this as: ‘The cruel uncertainty of waiting for something to happen, living with no plan for tomorrow. My spirit is destroyed, I am going crazy in a small cage. I think about death every day and don’t feel I can do this anymore, my body is full of pain and my nerves are tense, it is the toughest suffering’. An additional complication was that while some individuals were released into community detention, others were released on bridging visas. This resulted in some individuals from the Medevac cohort who were otherwise in similar circumstances The Use of Hotels as Alternative Places of Detention (APODs) • 2023 • 49