BuzzFeed News spoke to Czarion's mother, Nancy, who lives in Queensland.

She said it feels like a hopeless situation, with the entire process shrouded in secrecy and her son completely shut off from the rest of the world.

"All in all, I've had such a hard time even trying to speak to my son and have some formal contact with him. As a mother I have tried many times to contact my son through the proper channels, if not by my lawyer, by physically ringing the centre myself."



Nancy said the only way they can communicate is with a mobile phone that is passed among detainees.



"The only way to get any information on how he is doing is through his immigration lawyer, and even that has been very little," she said.

Czarion was sentenced to a year on assault charges after a pub brawl, most of which he was allowed to serve at home with his mum because the judge deemed him not to be a threat to society.

Nancy said when she went to pick him up on the day of his release, all she was told was that he'd been picked up by someone else. Meanwhile, Czarion was being shipped from Brisbane to Sydney and then on to Christmas Island, which is off the coast of Australia in only the very loosest of terms.