The number of visas canceled for character reasons has increased tenfold in the past decade

Migrants and refugees who commit crimes face an unfair justice system that ultimately sees them detained or deported after serving their prison sentences.

The Prison to Deportation Pipeline report shows that character-based visa cancellations have increased tenfold since 2014, leading to a significant spike in the number of people in immigration detention.

The latest government figures show that there are 984 people in detention centers, of which 824 have a criminal past.

The average time detainees spent in detention was 513 days (or approximately one year and four months).

Researchers from the Human Rights Law Center and the University of Melbourne found that non-citizens have a “structurally different, more restrictive prison experience” compared to Australian citizens.

While Australian citizens are released after serving their sentences in the community, people who have their visas revoked are sent from prison to immigration detention centres.

“People on visas face a two-pronged prison system, where they cannot access the programs, parole and post-release support available to others simply because of their visa status,” said Sanmati Verma, legal director of the center.

“People with visas are essentially being punished double or triple.”

Visa holders subject to mandatory cancellations have only 28 days to reverse this decision.

“This system sets up visa holders to fail and lose hope from the moment they are convicted. It must be dismantled,” Verma said.

Government policies and Supreme Court rulings

In a landmark Supreme Court decision last year: .

This led to the release of more than 200 inmates, whose crimes ranged from minor to more serious crimes, such as murder, into the community.

They remained under strict conditions, including wearing an ankle monitor daily and a curfew between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

This month, the Supreme Court ruled in a majority decision that these measures were punitive.

In response, Home Secretary Tony Burke introduced legislation to reintroduce electronic ankle bracelets, curfews and the power to expel people whose visas have been revoked in third countries.

“The first priority is not ankle bracelets or detention for these people, our first priority is that we don’t want them in Australia at all,” the minister said in Parliament.

“That’s why we’ve introduced powers… to improve the government’s ability to remove people in this situation from this country.”

The report argued that the visa revocation power does not provide an opportunity for offenders to recover after prison, either by exporting the problem to other countries or by further detaining them.

They recommended repealing mandatory visa cancellation provisions and revising standards regarding prison placement, programs, education and parole for non-citizens.