A direct account of Australia’s immigration detention regime as it operated at the Woomera Detention Centre.

Journalist Tom Mann documents the lived conditions of asylum seekers held in the South Australian desert. It is not a simple, nor easy read, it delves deep into the isolation, indefinite detention, mental health collapse, protest, and state control carried out at distance from public view. The book draws on reporting, interviews, and firsthand observation rather than policy debate or abstraction. 

This book gives an extraordinary and important insight into the secret daily life behind the wire of detention centres. It captures a period in Australian political history that continues to shape border policy, public language, and institutional cruelty.