A major investigation by Guardian Australia lays bare the traumatic realities of life in the Manus Island centre for those held there – including children

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Four months of official reports have revealed the scale of the violence and chaos inside the controversial Manus Island offshore processing facility. A major data and freedom of information investigation by Guardian Australia lays bare the traumatic realities of life in the centre for those held there – including children.

The documents, obtained under a series of freedom of information requests, include reports of a child asylum seeker threatening to hang himself, of numerous riots and demonstrations, mass escape attempts and hunger strikes, numerous instances of self-harm, attempted suicides and assaults.

According to the documents, which log every significant event inside the centre, between March and June 2013 incidents occurred at a rate of two every three days. In April, when some of the most serious incidents occurred, this rate rose to one a day. An incident marked as "major" or "critical" occurred once every three days, the logs show.

The key findings of the logs are:

• PNG paramilitary officers assigned to protect the facility stormed the compound and demanded payment from the Australian government.

• A G4S guard was suspended after kicking a detainee in the groin and punching him in the head during a fight in the mess area.

• A riot occurred in which asylum seekers threw rocks and bottles at guards and attempted to escape the compound.

• A brawl between two different ethnic groups broke out, in whichmakeshift weapons were used and multiple injuries sustained.

• Mass hunger strikes, serious assaults and self-harm attempts occurred frequently.

• A child threatened to commit suicide.

• A "crying" and "distressed" asylum seeker woman was delayed in receiving medical treatment for three days due to a communication breakdown between agencies.

The documents date back to the previous Australian administration. Under the Gillard government, the Manus centre was reopened in November 2012, but the camp has formed a core part of both the Labor and new Coalition governments’ strategies relating to the harsh regime imposed on asylum seekers arriving by boat.

Guardian Australia understands there were no more than 302 asylum seekers held on Manus during the period covered by the logs. But under the Coalition, the numbers held on Manus have increased sharply, withthe latest statistics showing there are now 1,229 asylum seekers on Manus.

A recent UNHCR visit to Manus highlighted that "despite this [dramatic increase in population] the physical boundaries of the RPC [regional processing centre] have remained almost the same. This has increased the density of asylum seekers living at the RPC".

A spokesman for Scott Morrison, the immigration minister, said individual cases concerning Manus “will not be discussed”. He added that the government had made a number of improvements at the facility.

"This has included a more than doubling of capacity at offshore processing centres for both transferees and staff, enhancing security through the installation of security fencing and CCTV cameras, upgrading medical facilities and support, reconfiguring and integrating contractual arrangements," he said.

G4S, the private security company managing the Manus detention centre has not had its contract renewed, Guardian Australia revealed last month. The company declined to respond to any questions arising from the logs, directing all queries to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.

The Greens immigration spokeswoman, Sarah Hanson-Young, said the violence uncovered by the logs raised serious questions about the current government’s decision to transfer an unprecedented number of asylum seekers to Manus. Last month spears and sharpened weapons were removed from one compound on Manus.

Hanson-Young said the logs revealed a "secretive world of torture and trauma that is being overseen and actively enforced by the Australian government".

"With almost daily incidents, a brutal situation has developed on Manus Island and the lawless nature of the camp is risking the lives of more than a thousand refugees.

"The Coalition government has quadrupled the number of people in these horrific conditions since these incidents were logged and I hold grave fears for those who are currently locked up there," she said.

Hanson-Young said the logs highlighted that the previous Labor government had “repeatedly lied” about conditions on Manus, which it said was suitable for families and children. All families and children were eventually removed from Manus in early July 2013.

The Labor immigration spokesman, Richard Marles, said: "The arrangements that Labor put in place with Papua New Guinea have been the determining factor in the dramatic reduction in boat arrivals to Australia. The Coalition government agrees this policy has worked – that’s why they haven’t changed Labor’s approach."

Guardian Australia has compiled an interactive timeline of all the incidents in the logs and has redacted the names of those mentioned.