This week Unlocking Detention has been ‘visiting’ The Verne detention centre, in Dorset. On Friday afternoon, Ben from Detention Action conducted a live interview with Mark who is currently detained there.
Ben alerted those following the Q and A that, as with last week, communication was going to be difficult – the remoteness of the Verne means there’s always a bad phone connection.
And the interview was going to be difficult in other ways too. The interviewer knows Mark well. At one point he was going to join the Freed Voices group but was re-detained…back to The Verne.
First question for Mark is how long have you been detained in the Verne, and how long have you been detained altogether? #Unlocked16
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
Mark: First time I was detained 14 months, whole time in the Verne. This time – My Comeback – I been here two months now… #Unlocked16 https://t.co/E5CATF5GWc
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
The next question for Mark comes from Scottish Detainee Visitors:
Mark: They took me from streets of London. They stop & search me at Carnival. They saw I missed a signing and BAM…detention. #Unlocked16 https://t.co/cOiG7Y14e0
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
@DetentionForum Question for Mark currently held in the #Verne. #Unlocked16 pic.twitter.com/JBkMeOx9vO
— Sylvia ???????? (@CricklewoodMum) October 19, 2016
Mark: That it was the middle of nowhere, a island. Also, 1st time, I come from prison. My first thinking was 'what’s different?' #Unlocked16 https://t.co/voOWsQaLy8
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
Another question from Scottish Detainee Visitors:
A question for Mark, detained in the #Verne @DetentionForum pic.twitter.com/W5rPiwkNG4
— ScotDetaineeVisitors (@SDVisitors) October 20, 2016
Mark: Was in Harmondsworth. It was a suffocation. Better here, more privacy. I mean, Verne still a prison, don’t get me wrong…#Unlocked16 https://t.co/gw613xxrgz
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
Mark: I'm talking now, looking out. I can see big walls. Pond w/ five man looking at fish. Can't see the sea but can smell it. #Unlocked16 https://t.co/NSYAZtN3gJ
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
"Can't see the sea but can smell it"-Mark in detention centre in #Dorset my home county where I could see the sea every day #Time4aTimeLimit https://t.co/wl2cLwbNv1
— Marienna Pope-Weidemann (@MariennaPW) October 21, 2016
The next question came from a participant at a recent workshop on Unlocking Detention run by Right to Remain in Cambridge, written about here
How many pairs of shoes do you have that are not flip flops? (asked someone who visits people in detention, so knows this is a common issue!)
Mark: Ha! When I first came they told me I have to buy slippers in the shop. So I got them, & what I was wearing when I come in. #Unlocked16 https://t.co/n2qsxlLruW
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
Another question from a @Right_to_Remain gig, this one on food at the Verne, described in HMIP report as 'adequate' https://t.co/bbBBnbAI25 pic.twitter.com/afk7cQhrcB
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
Mark: Lamb-chop stew w/ rice and peas, EVERY time. Yesssirr! Just thinking make me miss it y'know…food here really not good. #Unlocked16 https://t.co/cXAJCH3V5u
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
Question for @DetentionForum Q&A w/ Mark, currently detained in the Verne from one of our volunteers #Unlocked16 #DignityNotDetention pic.twitter.com/wA719zyAt4
— Detention Action (@DetentionAction) October 19, 2016
Mark: Most here are old prison officers & they're ok. It was very different at Harmondsworth. Private company guys act very bad. #Unlocked16 https://t.co/RUAVIomLfv
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
Mark: Alcatraz. This place is Alcatraz. So you can see the nature – you surrounded by it – but you can’t access it. You at sea. #Unlocked16 https://t.co/E89UBylXWY
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
Another incredible #Unlocked16 Q and A happening right now with Mark, detained in The Verne. What an answer!! So evocative. https://t.co/yRJriVVkwB
— LisaLeziza (@LisaLeziza) October 21, 2016
Alcatraz sadly such a common point of reference for TheVerne. Other one often used to describe detention in the UK: Guantamano #Unlocked16 https://t.co/81NUNeRFRD
— Detention Action (@DetentionAction) October 21, 2016
Q for Mark (currently detained at the Verne) @DetentionAction @DetentionForum pic.twitter.com/IUTm1ksTGl
— René Cassin? (@Rene_Cassin) October 19, 2016
Mark: All my family are back home. I got my friends are in London, y'know. But the Verne is too far, too £££ for them to come. #Unlocked16 https://t.co/4IOp4345jo
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
Question for Mark from @Right_to_Remain conference. (@DetentionAction & https://t.co/l41Y6oiKof visit people in the Verne) #Unlocked16 pic.twitter.com/wUf19wHALw
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
Mark:To be honest, its all good but sometimes it's just another reminder of outside. And every day your mind is inside-out/side. #Unlocked16 https://t.co/qqqF4MkrVD
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
Reminds me of Michael talking about Holly's visits when he was detained. Afterwards is so hard. https://t.co/IfRO8oPpVm #Unlocked16 https://t.co/6IrPbXZNhE
— LisaLeziza (@LisaLeziza) October 21, 2016
Pertinent question given #Unlocked16 blog this week on chaplaincy services at the Verne https://t.co/Qs2G5Gy8py #DetentionDestroysLives pic.twitter.com/DjwrjtqIps
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
Mark: I pray alot here, y'know. You have to! Get me a lot of strength from the chapel. It's an important place for me here. #Unlocked16 https://t.co/NM437PRT9K
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
Question for Mark, detained at the Verne #Unlocked16 https://t.co/xggLejAlRE pic.twitter.com/56yngHZlO2
— Detention Action (@DetentionAction) October 21, 2016
Mark: Not myself. I’ve seen people go in there. And see people come out…not pretty, man. But all detention is solitary, really. #Unlocked16 https://t.co/W67b34IpnM
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
Question for Mark: What do you think of the healthcare at the Verne? #Unlocked16
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
Mark: Its laughable. The way they look at you, its like you already deported. Like you are just malingering. There's no trust. #Unlocked16 https://t.co/jKwnoYur6V
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
@DetentionForum What do you do to cope with the boredom of detention? #Unlocked16
— Fences&Frontiers ? (@FencesFrontiers) October 21, 2016
Mark: I read. Now I'm reading ‘The Power of Focus’. I like reading autobiographies too. They got that Alex Ferguson one here… #Unlocked16 https://t.co/d5gUg1DS5v
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
What would you be doing now if you were free? How would you be living & who would you be with? Solidarity #Unlocked16
— Marienna Pope-Weidemann (@MariennaPW) October 21, 2016
Mark: First thing I be checking is that I got a room over my head. Wasn’t like that last time I left detention. Just got dumped. #Unlocked16 https://t.co/i8s2lca2Fq
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
Question for Mark from @Right_to_Remain workshop, addressing the wider impacts of detention #Unlocked16 pic.twitter.com/rCxnNziksB
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
Mark: Many ways…biggest though has been losing contact with the loved ones. Detention has changed those relationships forever. #Unlocked16 https://t.co/UxpQrYLOnN
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
@DetentionForum question for Q&A at the #Verne #Unlocked16 pic.twitter.com/ybBdenRSXn
— Ciara Bottomley (@ciaranibottom) October 20, 2016
Mark: It can be troubling. Deflating, y’know. I just try to take one day at a time. If you think so much about it, you go mad. #Unlocked16 https://t.co/g4SQ6uOzKl
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
@DetentionForum question from @TomMcKCharity at @DOTW_UK for the Q&A pic.twitter.com/CukYCtMvLk
— KalinaFitness (@KalinaShah) October 20, 2016
Mark: No, because I had to. But it changed way I feel about UK. People are being locked up here for time, like rotting fruit. #Unlocked16 https://t.co/uisisFyvaF
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
Last few questions for Mark now, this one on public engagement from @Right_to_Remain conference earlier this year. #Unlocked16 pic.twitter.com/JnuWcFnuBr
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
Mark: The public not even in the know. I am a testament to that. I was a member of the public, I didn’t know about detention. #Unlocked16 https://t.co/bsGXGV1TaZ
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
Last, final question for Mark: what do you want the people reading this Q&A to take away from it? #Unlocked16 #BuildTrustNotWalls
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
Mark (1/2): I was detained in the Verne, released, rough on the streets, picked up again, brought back to Verne & guess what? #Unlocked16 https://t.co/neqtbgS7p2
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
Mark (2/2): …some guys are still here. One been here 18 months…System broken, simply. Detention's not working. Enough. #Unlocked16 https://t.co/neqtbgS7p2
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016
Huge thanks to Mark – real pleasure to speak to him again, albeit under horrible circumstances. #Unlocked16 stands in strength & solidarity.
— TheDetentionForum (@DetentionForum) October 21, 2016