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Name
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Pontianak Detention Centre, also known as Pontianak prison camp, Rumah Detensi Imigrasi Pontianak
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Type of carceral site
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Detention Centre
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Dates of use
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2006 – 2026
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Quote
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February 2017: the second year of my incarceration in Pontianak prison camp, Indonesia. The camp was run by Indonesian Immigration and funded by the Australian government through IOM (International Organization for Migration). Over two-hundred-and-fifty refugees from sixteen-year-old boys to sixty-five-year-old men were packed in boxy cells alongside me. Personal Essay. "Gull-Chaman and Lindy Banks." the archipelago, 19 July 2022, https://www.thearchipelago.org/gull-chaman-and-lindy-banks/.
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I developed a passion for writing. I began by painting my own suffering in words. As I continued practicing writing as therapy, I realized it was an effective way to connect with the wider world. I shared my writing on social media. I described the hardships and injustice that we refugees faced due to the barbaric incompetence of those responsible for running the detention system. Personal Essay. "Gull-Chaman and Lindy Banks." the archipelago, 19 July 2022, https://www.thearchipelago.org/gull-chaman-and-lindy-banks/.
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On 28 February 2012, Taqi Nekoyee, a young man from Afghanistan died in the Pontianak immigration detention centre in Kalimantan. Taqi's autopsy revealed massive wounds and cigarette burns – indications of severe beating and torture. Journalistic article. Missbach, Antje and Sinanu, Frieda. "Life and death in immigration detention." Inside Indonesia, 23 July 2013, https://www.insideindonesia.org/editions/edition-113-jul-sep-2013/life-and-death-in-immigration-detention.
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I lost the best years and my youth in the corner of the detention center. I had no access to education or even clean food. I was kept in unsanitary and overcrowded conditions like a caged bird banned from singing, stopped from flying in the heart of nature. Eventually I became unable to see outside of the prison to imagine being a free spirit and having an ordinary life. Personal Essay. Shams. "My Refugee Story." The Greens Western Australia, 31 October 2019, https://greens.org.au/wa/magazine/my-refugee-story.
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Authority
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United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Presidential Regulation No. 125, 2016.
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Archives and sources
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UNHCR Indonesia Archives and Case Files. Missbach, Antje. Troubled Transit. ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, 2015. Nethery, Amy, Rafferty-Brown, Brynna, Taylor, Savitri. "Exporting Detention: Australia-funded Immigration Detention in Indonesia." Journal of Refugee Studies, Volume 26, Issue 1, March 2013, Pages 88–109, https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/fes027
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Contact
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Kieren
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identifier
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SITE-NAK