Woomera, South Australia and Woomera was chosen as a site for such a facility. The establishment of the Woomera Immigration Detention Centre in 1999, through the refurbishment of the original Woomera Village construction camp at 'Woomera West', eventually brought in new permanent staff (as the Nurrungar people were leaving) to settle and maintain the village population at around 1,200. The immigration detention centre, however, proved to be a highly controversial facility and it closed in early 2003 after only about 36 months of operation, at which point the land and buildings were handed back to the Defence Department. Following the closure of the
Queens Detention Facility seekers. This facility is not to be confused with the Queens Detention Complex, a municipal jail operated by the New York City Department of Correction at 126-01 82nd Avenue, Kew Gardens. The facility has a history of alleged civil rights abuses. In late 1998 at least three inmates attempted suicide, and a number of frustrated asylum seekers engaged in a hunger strike protesting conditions and the length of their detentions. The case of Ghanaian refugee Adelaide Abankwah detained in QDF came to public attention in part because she had been incarcerated there for two years and five months. Abankwah's was