Student thrown in ‘scary US prison cell with blood and faeces’ after visa mix up

A student was strip-searched and thrown into a prison cell with blood and faeces smeared on the walls after a travel mix up.

Australian Jack Dunn, 23, was travelling to the US for a backpacking holiday but fell foul of a little-known entry requirement.

He had taken some time off university for the break and had a vague idea of what he wanted to do, but had only planned to book transport and accommodation as he went along.

On May 5, he touched down at Honolulu International Airport, Hawaii and was asked by border security whether he had a flight booked out of the US.

He told them he had one booked to Mexico.

“You’re going to have to come with me,” he was told.

Travellers entering the US under the Visa Waiver Program are required to have a ticket already booked to another place, but not one in a bordering country or adjacent island.

Jack said he was questioned for hours, eventually attempting to book a flight to Panama (the only Central American capital he could think of under the stress) from a worker's phone as he didn't have access to the internet.

Jack told news.au.com: "But that was $500 (£400) and I didn’t have that in my account and then I was trying to explain to the [US Customs and Border Protection officer] that I just needed internet to transfer money across."

The border officer appeared to not even consider that Jack had made an innocent mistake, he said.

• 

  Couple out of pocket after Ryanair 'lose their clothes' as dream wedding turns to chaos

Jack was said to be unable to “overcome the presumption of an intended immigrant” in a transcript of the interview seen by news.com.au.

After being told he would be flown back to Sydney the following day, Jack was cuffed and taken to the "scary" Federal Detention Center in Honolulu.

During a strip-search, he claims guards twice looked under his scrotum and anus.

The process saw him moved into several different rooms, one where he used a paper bag with a sandwich as a pillow and another with blood and faeces on the walls.

For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletter by clicking here.

“When you’re not in your own country you have no control over what’s going to happen to you so I was kind of thinking I would never get out,” he said.

Other inmates howled as he was taken to his cell, where his cellmate "talked to himself and punched the walls".

Jack spent around 30 hours in prison in total, during which he said he was refused contact with his family.

His family said they only discovered something was wrong after a border official rang them at 5.30am, saying Jack was safe but giving no further details.

Have you had a holiday from hell? Email [email protected]

Source: Read Full Article