A study has found that the prolonged use of immigration detention has a devastating impact on the mental health of detainees that extends well beyond their release into the community.
The report has been completed by academics at the University of New South Wales.
The study summarises nine separate clinical investigations involving about 400 detainees and draws on the findings of 24 commissions of inquiry.
One of the report's authors, Zachary Steel, says the immigration detention policy causes long-term harm to detainees and puts a burden on community services.
"Most of the people in fact that spend up to two years in detention do seem to get released into the community," he said.
"We're creating a psychiatric catastrophe by our own willing that then we have to spend years dealing with in the community." © 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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