But he can't. Not because his mother won't let him or is too poor to buy one.

In fact, a friend sent him the game console as a special gift, but guards at the immigration detention centre where he has lived for 18 months refuse to let him have the toy.

A tiny camera is inside for kids to smooch photos of their face like digital play-dough, and this, like so much in Ragavan's world, is banned.

Ragavan and his mother, Manokala, are among 60 people living a life on hold - refugees, found to be owed protection by Australia, but not permitted in the community after ASIO branded the adults a security threat.

The ASIO assessments are secret and the refugees have no right of appeal. The boy who loves to run cannot walk to a nearby school without guards, and according to a Commonwealth ombudsman investigation of his case, Manokala is upset she can no longer organise cricket training for her son.

''There is an enormous inhumanity in a person being detained in such a state of uncertainty,'' said lawyer Giri Sivaraman, who represents the pair.

No other country has been willing to offer the 55 refugees with adverse assessments a home and, denied a visa to live in Australia, they face a life in indefinite detention.

Manokala told the ombudsman she does not talk to the other women in detention and worries for her mental health and its impact on her capacity to care for Ragavan.

A High Court challenge to the fairness of the system last year failed to secure release for the 55 refugees and their seven children and lawyers will return to the court next week in an attempt to break the impasse.

Maurice Blackburn lawyers are representing Manokala after former Federal Court judge Margaret Stone was asked last year to review the ASIO assessments, but her recommendations are not binding and the refugees are only given a broad outline of the allegations against them.

A submission to Justice Stone will be lodged in the coming days after the lawyers made contact with a priest in Sri Lanka to make a statement on Manokala's character. ''The concern we have is we are never ever going to see the material relied on by ASIO, making it difficult for us to respond,'' Mr Sivaraman said.

He has also written to Immigration Minister Brendan O'Connor asking for the pair to be returned to community detention. The ombudsman warned of ''serious risk to mental and physical health'' of prolonged indefinite detention and recommended the government consider alternative avenues for managing any security threat.