SYDNEY, Jan 2: Australia cracked down Thursday on inmates behind a wave of riots at immigration detention centres across the country as a psychiatrists’ group warned a “crisis of mental health” was raging in the controversial facilities.

Authorities said they had transferred 15 illegal immigrants from a detention centre in Sydney to a high security prison pending possible criminal charges over arson and an attempted mass breakout from the facility on New Year’s eve.

Seven asylum seekers were meanwhile due in court later Thursday facing possible charges over arson and attacks on guards at the Woomera detention camp in the south Australian desert, officials said.

The immigration department also announced that strip searches would be used more widely at its detention centres to prevent inmates from carrying weapons.

Inmates set fire to buildings at five centres across the country over the past week in what advocacy groups described as acts of desperation and protest over the punitive conditions under which they are held.

The government of Prime Minister John Howard has been critical of the protests and has threatened to imprison or deport those found responsible for the violence.—AFP