Woomera Immigration Reception and Processing Centre

The Woomera Immigration Reception and Processing Centre was an Australian immigration detention facility near the village of Woomera in South Australia. It was opened in November 1999 in response to an increase in unauthorised arrivals, which had exceeded the capacity of other detention facilities. It was originally intended to hold 400 people, however at its peak in April 2000 it had nearly 1,500 detainees. After ongoing public pressure in response to several well publicised riots from 2000, accusations of human rights abuses, and capacity issues, the centre closed in April 2003.The site was rebuilt during 2003, and then handed back to the Australian Department of Defence. The facility was renamed "Camp Rapier" in 2004 and has only supported Defence activities on the Woomera Test Range since that time.For much of its operation during the time the facility was an immigration detention centre, it was run by Australasian Correctional Management, a subsidiary of Wackenhut Security Corporation, under a contract with the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs. ACM was criticised over various practices, including failing to staff the Centre adequately, and concealing evidence of child abuse.Background to the creation of the facilityDuring the early 1990s the Keating ALP government enforced a policy of mandatory detention of unauthorised arrivals. All non-citizens arriving by boat without a valid visa were detained until they were either granted a visa, or deported.