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New laws mean that immigration detention officers can now confiscate things like mobile phones, iPads and laptops, which were previously allowed in detention centres. If you’re facing time in immigration detention at the end of your sentence, this article gives some practical tips to prepare for the new rules before you go.
For many people in prison who are not Australian citizens, getting parole or finishing a sentence doesn’t mean going home – it means moving to immigration detention. People are held in immigration detention while they fight to get their visa back or wait to be deported. Immigration detention is not supposed to be a punishment, so there are different rules to prisons. That’s why mobile phones and internet access have previously been allowed – but the rules are changing.
New laws allow the Government to decide that certain items can be confiscated from people in immigration detention. It can be anything the Government believes is a risk to the health, safety or security of people (or staff) in detention, or threatens the ‘order’ of the detention centre.
Once the Government has decided that a particular thing is dangerous, detention officers then have the power to search people and confiscate the item if they think it is a risk. This includes using strip searches or searches with dogs.
Some items like weapons were already banned. But in November 2025, the Government decided that the following items can also be searched for
and confiscated:
This does not mean that mobile phones or computers are automatically banned for everyone. So far, they have only been taken away from some people. But the Government could decide to ban them entirely, or for certain groups of people, at any time. Other items might be banned in future too.
Mobile phones and the internet help people in detention to pass the time, keep in touch with family and friends, and work on their legal cases to get their visa back. People have also used camera phones to report poor conditions and mistreatment in detention to journalists or social media. And mobile phones let people call for urgent help if they are about to be deported.
Detention officers have a lot of power to decide who gets to keep a mobile phone and who does not. It’s easy to see how that power might be misused.
Despite the new laws, people in detention still have important rights:
Before you go to immigration detention, you should write down on paper:
Once you are in immigration detention, if an officer confiscates your phone, computer or other device, you should:
Getting familiar with these new rules now might help you to stand up for your rights when you arrive in immigration detention.
New laws mean that immigration detention officers can now confiscate things like mobile phones, iPads and laptops, which were previously allowed in detention centres. If you’re facing time in immigration detention at the end of your sentence, this article gives some practical tips to prepare for the new rules before you go.
For many people in prison who are not Australian citizens, getting parole or finishing a sentence doesn’t mean going home – it means moving to immigration detention. People are held in immigration detention while they fight to get their visa back or wait to be deported. Immigration detention is not supposed to be a punishment, so there are different rules to prisons. That’s why mobile phones and internet access have previously been allowed – but the rules are changing.
New laws allow the Government to decide that certain items can be confiscated from people in immigration detention. It can be anything the Government believes is a risk to the health, safety or security of people (or staff) in detention, or threatens the ‘order’ of the detention centre.
Once the Government has decided that a particular thing is dangerous, detention officers then have the power to search people and confiscate the item if they think it is a risk. This includes using strip searches or searches with dogs.
Some items like weapons were already banned. But in November 2025, the Government decided that the following items can also be searched for
and confiscated:
This does not mean that mobile phones or computers are automatically banned for everyone. So far, they have only been taken away from some people. But the Government could decide to ban them entirely, or for certain groups of people, at any time. Other items might be banned in future too.
Mobile phones and the internet help people in detention to pass the time, keep in touch with family and friends, and work on their legal cases to get their visa back. People have also used camera phones to report poor conditions and mistreatment in detention to journalists or social media. And mobile phones let people call for urgent help if they are about to be deported.
Detention officers have a lot of power to decide who gets to keep a mobile phone and who does not. It’s easy to see how that power might be misused.
Despite the new laws, people in detention still have important rights:
Before you go to immigration detention, you should write down on paper:
Once you are in immigration detention, if an officer confiscates your phone, computer or other device, you should:
Getting familiar with these new rules now might help you to stand up for your rights when you arrive in immigration detention.
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