Oxford dons take Mr Cameron to task over immigration detention at nearby Campsfield House Immigration Detention Centre.
On Saturday 15th November 2014, the distinguished barrister and Principal of Mansfield College, Baroness Helena Kennedy, and Danny Dorling, Professor of Geography and other signatories will launch the letter to Prime Minister David Cameron on its way to Number 10 Downing Street, joining the mounting opposition against the UK’s detention expansion plan. The letter, signed by 9 heads of college and 61 other senior academics of Oxford University, calls for the immediate release of all Campsfield detainees and the withdrawal of plans to expand the immigration detention centre.
Over the last 12 months,UK immigration detention capacity has increased by 25%. Over 4,000 detention bed spaces are now available in eleven prison-like Immigration Removal Centres scattered across the country. An extra 800 detention bed spaces have already been created in 2014, and the government has just announced a plan to double the size of Campsfield House Immigration Removal Center in Oxfordshire.
Jo Hynes, Oxford University Amnesty International President said, “We’ve had an incredible response from both academic staff and students whilst coordinating this letter, with Oxford University Student Union also unanimously passing a motion to call for the closure of Campsfield House.”
Local groups have been collectively opposing the Campsfield expansion plan for some time and the Detention Forum has recently calling for a moratorium on the detention expansion and published a briefing paper.
