Following revelations of "fight clubs" at Auckland's Mt Eden Prison, an asylum seeker was found to have been forced into taking part.

"When I went to the police station they took me to a cell and gave me a mattress. There were cockroaches crawling and biting me, I thought to myself this is similar to a police station in Afghanistan!"

It's just after midnight at Auckland International Airport when Khalid, who we agreed not to name to protect his identity, arrived in late August 2012. He'd disposed of his passport during the final transit before reaching Auckland.

His eyes scan the arrivals area. He finds a policeman and declares he is here to seek asylum. "I was taken to Customs to be strip-searched. It was such a shock you know. Because of my religion, this is not something that I wanted to do," he says.

SUPPLIED Amnesty International chief executive Grant Bayldon: "If people are detained we should be making sure they have good access to lawyers and interpreters, we need to make sure they're not detained alongside remand prisoners and convicted criminals."

Initially he protests but he's tired and scared and eventually relents to the process. "After they searched me I was taken into a room and questioned. I was so exhausted. It took about two hours."

READ MORE:

* Parents and newborn baby intercepted in desperate long-range boat bid to reach NZ

* Why NZ should spend $17m helping Syrian refugees

* Detention no place for asylum seekers

* NZ's extra asylum seekers

* People-smuggling boat 'credible risk and threat' to NZ

PHIL WALTER/GETTY IMAGES Prison is no place for asylum seekers, who are often traumatised and vulnerable, advocates say.

Immigration officers asked Khalid why he'd left Afghanistan, the route he'd taken to get to New Zealand and what had happened to his passport.

"At the end they said they'd let me know the outcome. I thought they'd let me go at this point but they told me they couldn't let me walk around the streets."

Khalid was told he'd be taken to prison.

"My expectation was when I provided some documents and told the truth I would be taken to a refugee camp but they sent me to the police station where I spent the night."

UNDER ATTACK

In 2012 the Taliban carried out some of their most intensive attacks on foreign embassies in the Afghanistan capital Kabul, where Khalid had worked as a translator for the British Embassy for five years.

"That day, when the embassy was under attack, it was very serious. We were kept underground for five or six hours, we were watching rockets going over the building." Khalid remembers.

For most of Khalid's life his homeland has been involved in war, especially in Kabul.

"After the Russian invasion there was the war between the Mujahideen and the Taliban. Before the attack on the embassy the main concern was about suicide attacks. There would be a suicide bomb then they'd start shooting people."

Following the embassy attack, Khalid was targeted.

"It was some sort of intimidation, a sort of warning. They tried to enter my house and threw things through the windows at night." Khalid took his wife and children and moved in with his brother.

PROVING IDENTITY

During his first interview in New Zealand with Immigration officers, Khalid had shown them text messages he'd exchanged with his employers at the British Embassy.

Those text conversations about attacks on his house were the only thing he had to prove who he was, Khalid says.

He told them he'd also provided translating services for the New Zealand ambassador, given them a name to check. But after considering the information he'd given the officials, they decided there wasn't enough to prove his identity.

Immigration's Northern compliance manager Alistair Murray says asylum seekers can be detained if there is a concern about their identity. "We can't say with any certainty that they can be released into the community because they might represent a threat to the community."

Information obtained through the Official Information Act revealed there are​ now 11 asylum seekers holed up in Mt Eden Prison; the average length of stay is four months.

According to Immigration New Zealand statistics there were 269 claims for asylum between 2016 and 2017; 71 of those claims were approved.

Rebecca Hamilton, an Australian human rights lawyer who teaches at American University's Washington College of Law, says every country has the right to detain anyone for a brief time to determine their identity.

"The emphasis here is it's a limited time, it shouldn't be for months and months."

She adds when the UN refugee convention was created after World War II there was an understanding detainment was an exceptional case.

"Even 11 out of the 71 asylum seekers New Zealand took last year is a lot, the absolute number might not sound as bad compared to the numbers on Manus Island or Nauru, but percentage-wise it's not insignificant."

Hamilton thinks there's a new norm worldwide of countries detaining people under questionable circumstances instead of making an effort to look for the least restrictive option while their asylum claims are being processed.

Amnesty International is also concerned with the practice; New Zealand chief executive Grant Bayldon says the government should avoid holding asylum seekers in prison-based detention.

"They need to do a far better job, if people are detained we should be making sure they have good access to lawyers and interpreters, we need to make sure they're not detained alongside remand prisoners and convicted criminals," Bayldon says.

LAWYERS FRUSTRATED

Auckland immigration lawyer John McBride believes one of the major issues is that only a few lawyers have the expertise to represent asylum seekers.

"The legal aid available for asylum seeker cases is minimal, it's not enough to cover the amount of time required to put a case together. You need to spend hours to gather the information required to put together a case. It can be a battle to get the prison to allow you to bring in a laptop and it can take two full days of talking to get the full picture of what is happening."

Every 28 days an asylum seeker's status is assessed and if necessary a new warrant of commitment is issued. An Auckland District lawyer, who asked not to be named, said often when asylum seekers appear in court no one is arguing against their detention.

"In some cases asylum seekers are being represented by criminal lawyers who don't know anything about immigration law, more recently there was a situation where a refugee lawyer had to be court ordered to turn up for her client after not doing so for several appearances."

The president of the Refugee Council, Dr Arif Saied, says the council experiences similar difficulties accessing asylum seekers. It has been fighting for regular visits but has yet to be granted them. Dr Saied says the situation has slightly improved since Serco has gone but legal representation continues to be a problem.

McBride argues the law isn't consistent and says immigration is meant to continually review whether the most appropriate level of detention is secure prison, the Mangere Resettlement Centre or release into the community. But in his experience immigration officers aren't actively doing this.

DETAINED

At two o'clock in the morning Khalid is sitting in a police cell at Manukau Police Station. He'll appear in court later that morning.

"They told me a lawyer would be appointed to me and that I'd have to go to prison for a few days," Khalid explains.

After his first appearance in Manukau District Court, he's transported to Mt Eden Remand Prison.

"I was put in a cell with a burglar - even he was confused why I was in there! It was very difficult. We only got one hour break and during this time you're around all the other prisoners. I saw some terrifying scenes, bullying of weaker people."

Khalid quickly realised the only way to survive in Mt Eden was to attach to a stronger person.

"There was an Egyptian guy, a bodybuilder, he was a big guy. I befriended him so I had someone to protect me," Khalid remembers.

Khalid's story isn't unique among people seeking asylum in New Zealand. Auckland immigration lawyer Ioana Uca is representing a man who was allegedly assaulted by another inmate.

"He's a small guy from a Muslim country and he was sharing a cell with a man on a charge of double homicide. He was so scared of him. Always asking permission to move around the cell," Uca said.

"I have tired, broken people who don't know what to do; the system is flawed and broken. I don't believe these people should be in prison, they're being abused by other prisoners. They're vulnerable people."

Asylum seekers have been caught up in prison violence in the past. Following revelations of "fight clubs" at Mt Eden Prison, an asylum seeker was found to have been forced into taking part. His lawyer, Deborah Manning, complained.

"He was beaten up, had food taken away from him. He was living in fear of his life," Manning explains.

Manning believes the policy is harsh.

"It's meant to be a deterrence but New Zealand authorities refuse to look at the issue."

Alistair Murray disagrees they're trying to deter asylum seekers from coming into the country.

"We're making sure the people trying to claim asylum aren't going to pose a risk to the community," he says.

Murray would not comment on the number of asylum seekers who were found to be a threat to society.

FALSE DOCUMENTS

"To be honest, there is no other way. I know it's illegal and hard to justify, maybe for other people there is another option."

There's conflict in Khalid's voice as he explains why he used a false passport to leave Afghanistan.

"I had a UK visa, I could have gone there very easily. But the encouragement of my aunt who was already in New Zealand helped make my mind up. I didn't want to be disloyal to the embassy because as an employee I didn't want to misuse the visa they had given me."

Murray says it's not uncommon for asylum seekers not to have correct documentation.

"The issue is identity and if we can establish identity in another way then the false documents aren't the determining factor in the decision-making."

When asked whether asylum seekers are a risk to the community, Khalid pauses in consideration.

"Generally the people who want to escape their country, they were in a critical situation ... They shouldn't be a threat or pose a threat to the community. It's difficult to say 100 per cent, but overall those who manage to come are people who have worked for foreigners, they've got money, a good job. Because it's difficult for a poor person to pay $10,000 in order to get a passport."

Murray couldn't comment on individual cases, but he says - hypothetically speaking - the issue is trying to figure out exactly who the person is.

"As a part of the decision-making process, we would consider if they tried to conceal their true identity when they arrived or if they tried to misled authorities."

But Rebecca Hamilton argues detainment could be a convenient solution.

"People who are seeking asylum should have, within reason, the freedom to move around, because they are often highly traumatised people - so putting them in a situation such as Mt Eden isn't going to be good for them."

STRETCHED SERVICES

"We're at breaking point, we've had to turn people away because our hostel is full." Marian Kleist is at the helm of Asylum Seekers Support Trust. When asked how it keeps its doors open, she laughs.

"We get some support from philanthropic trusts, people who donate on a regular basis. It's hard graft all the time to keep the doors open."

The road isn't easy for an asylum seeker - they are not eligible for the same wrap-around support services as refugees who come under the quota. One of Ioana Uca's clients was on the street for a period of time before she was able to get him a bed at the Avondale hostel run by Asylum Seekers Support.

"We've had clients go into WINZ to be turned away because the WINZ officer isn't aware of what their entitlements are," Kleist says.

The service is bursting at the seams.

"We're in a situation at the moment where we're having to turn people away. We have a hostel that can take up to 14 asylum seekers and their families, 16 in an emergency."

Kleist and her team make sure asylum seekers get their benefits, have a roof over their head and aren't slipping through the cracks.

"There's no way an asylum seeker is able to give a good picture, answer questions about their situation if they are hungry, if they're sleeping under a bridge, or if their anxiety is high. There's potential for putting their refugee status at risk if they don't have their basic needs covered."

She rejects the suggestion asylum seekers are a threat to the community.

"These people are coming because they're running away from a dreadful situation, they're not coming because they're terrorists."

LIFE AS A KIWI

Khalid remembers his first year in New Zealand as a time of waiting.

"It took three months to be approved, then I applied for residency."

During his second year, he was able to bring his wife and children over.

"Those first few years were hard, there was no one there to give me guidance."

However, life is getting easier for him.

"Gradually, I see doors are opening for me. The opportunities are good for my children, for my wife it's a bit more difficult."

Khalid believes there is an alternative to detaining asylum seekers.

"I know the government is worried about people coming in, but I think the solution for that is to have a special facility, because when someone comes to New Zealand and is put in prison with criminals it isn't a good impression."