WITHIN a month of arriving at Nauru, ''problematic'' asylum seekers had tried to hang themselves or cut themselves with razor blades, internal Department of Immigration reports reveal.
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Incident logs obtained by Fairfax Media under freedom-of-information laws show mass hunger strikes and self-harm became regular events at the detention centre during its first three months of operation.
The first transfer of asylum seekers happened on September 14. On October 13, two men tried to hang themselves inside their tents - one with a bed sheet and one with tent ropes.
An email sent by a director within the Department of Immigration and Citizenship said one man was found hanging by a tent rope in his tent about 6.50pm.
''Client [redacted] was cut down by two Wilson Security Client Service Officers who were … monitoring two other clients when they saw the incident,'' the email read.
''Client [redacted] was taken to IHMS [International Health and Medical Services] but is not co-operating with medical staff. IHMS advise he has no obvious injury but is very distressed.''
Regular protests and rolling hunger strikes were reported.
On October 31, a man climbed a light pole, tied a sheet around the top and tried to hang himself, only to be caught by security guards as he fell. At the time, another man harmed himself with a razor, cutting his head.
''These clients continue to be problematic,'' the report stated.
But protests escalated the next day, after allegations a security guard had punched an asylum seeker as a crowd gathered below the pole to watch the man.
''Clients [asylum seekers] refused to formalise the complaint in writing,'' a DIAC email about the incident read. It said some protesters tried to bully others into joining a demonstration, which dwindled to about 50 from 170 earlier in the day.
DIAC had in the past declined to confirm how many people had gone on hunger strikes on Nauru, saying meals continued to be taken from the mess area.
But one document stated that, on November 3, about 260 asylum seekers were on a hunger strike, or what the department dubbed ''voluntary starvation''. At the time, there were 377 asylum seekers on the island.
''Eight clients have been treated by IHMS for heat exhaustion,'' the report read. ''All these clients are currently involved in a voluntary starvation protest. It has been reported that these clients were at the point of collapse.''
The next day a report noted that 17 people had been treated by IHMS after going on hunger strikes; nine had been treated with intravenous fluids, eight had been given basic treatment.
The reports also showed that staff were monitoring whether photographers appeared to be in the area, particularly when asylum seekers were gathering in view of a nearby ridge.
By November 6 the strain of detention appeared to be taking its toll on some. An unidentified officer reported in a case note: ''Six ropes, shaped as nooses, were found inside a client tent … this afternoon. A cardboard cut-out of a person was displayed hanging outside the tent. The ropes and cardboard figures were removed by Wilson Security.''
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