Non-care in the detention hotel: 20 years of Australia's use of 'alternative places of detention'

As part of its vast detention landscape, the Australian government has officially used hotels, motels and other forms of non-purpose-built accommodation to detain asylum seekers, refugees and immigration deportees since 2002. Detaining persons within hotels – classified as ‘alternative places of detention’ (APODs) – has however remained relatively unknown in contrast to the use of purpose-built detention centre facilities. This chapter examines the development and implementation of APODs within the broader Australian detention landscape, initially promoted as a means to remove women and children from detention facilities and to provide access to medical and other care within the community. Drawing upon detainee accounts, media reporting, independent inquiries and official inspections of these sites, it is argued that APODs can be more accurately understood as sites of non-care. APODs are framed as spaces of ‘cramping’ and ‘choking’ that, instead of reducing detention-like conditions, often exacerbate existing health concerns through their carceral adaptability.