6 | Key issues and concerns 6.1 Safety concerns People in immigration detention have a basic need for their safety and security to be protected while in detention. Australia must ensure that people detained have this basic need met to fulfil the obligations imposed by article 10(1) of the ICCPR to treat detained people with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person. YHIDC accommodates an increasing proportion of people detained due to their visas being cancelled on character grounds under s 501 of the Migration Act. In the month of the Commission’s inspection, 156 (or 59.5%) of the 262 people detained at YHIDC had been detained for this reason.35 By December 2023, this cohort had increased to 65.9% (112) of the 170 people detained.36 Despite changes in composition, the detention population at YHIDC remains varied and includes people with a range of risk profiles. Those within the s 501 cohort at YHIDC have almost always come to immigration detention directly from the prison system. It is important to emphasise that there is significant variation among people whose visas have been cancelled under s 501 regarding the risk they pose to safety and security, and they should not be seen as a homogenous, high-risk cohort.37 Nevertheless, as the s 501 cohort has increased, there has also been an increase in behaviours frequently associated with the prison system, including trafficking of drugs and other contraband, bullying and standover tactics, and gang-related violence. The Department has repeatedly described an increase in critical incidents across the whole immigration detention network in recent years.38 Statistics released by the Department through Senate Estimates demonstrate an upward trend in the number of critical incidents occurring between the 2018–2019 financial year to March 2023 (from 0.4 to 0.6 incidents per 1000 people detained).39 The Department attributes major disturbances mostly ‘…to illicit drugs, home brewed alcohol, and prescription medications infiltrating the IDN [Immigration Detention Network]’.40 The Department also notes that ‘[m]anaging such a highrisk cohort within current infrastructure, which limits the ability to segregate diverse and vulnerable cohorts, puts pressure on operating capacity and can contribute to incidents’.41 In the Commission’s 2017 inspection of YHIDC, many of the people spoken to ‘indicated that they felt safe in detention … . However, a number of people did raise concerns about their safety, relating incidents in which they had felt threatened or intimidated by other people in detention’.42 Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre Inspection Report • 2024 • 23