Yongah Hill Immigration Centre detainees have been escorted to town for methadone

The detainees have been administered the drug every day except Sundays and public holidays, when they were treated in Midland instead.

The Avon Valley and Wheatbelt Advocate asked a spokesperson from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection how many detainees were on methadone and why those people were detained.

The spokesperson refused to provide those details.

“Due to privacy reasons, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection cannot provide information on individual detainees and their health status,” the spokesperson said. 

The most recent immigration detention statistics from June 30 showed there were 250 men at Yongah Hill Detention Centre.

Of those, 95 were asylum seekers, 81 had their visas cancelled and 74 were visa overstayers or had arrived on planes.

The centre became operational on 27 June 2012 and was designed for low-to-medium risk detainees. 

But in April, the department announced it would rebuild the facility with 120 beds, at a cost of $27.4 million.

This would include two compounds being demolished to make room for four secure compounds. 

The move was aimed at managing higher risk detainees. Detainees in the new accommodation were to have been of medium-to-extreme risk and from various countries.

The department’s statement said this was in response to the recent reduction in the number of people in detention in Australia.

Information about the methadone program for Yongah Hill detainees was current in April and the department refused to confirm whether it was still the case.