Unlocked Archives - Page 23 of 32

Unlocking Detention shone a spotlight on the hidden world of immigration detention. This ‘virtual tour’ of the immigration detention estate used Twitter, Facebook and a website to ‘unlock’ the gates of immigration detention centres.

Each week, Unlocking Detention ‘visited’ one of the UK’s detention centres. We heard from people who had been detained there, volunteer visitors, NGOs, campaigners and the families, friends, neighbours and communities over whom detention cast its long shadows.

We started Unlocking Detention back in 2014 and it ran for 6 years. While we no longer run this campaign with its dedicated website, it has left a powerful legacy of the impact of immigration detention. We have archived the key information, and we are now proud to continue to make it accessible via our website.

The impact of detention on LGBT communities

This article was written for Unlocking Detention by Nina Held and Karen Smith, volunteers at Lesbian Immigration Support Group in Manchester. This article was originally published by Justice Gap, our #Unlocked15 partners. The UK is the only European [...]

Unlocked2022-10-05T20:11:35+00:00November 9th, 2015|

Exceptional circumstances? Detention at Campsfield House

This piece was written by Melanie Griffiths, a trustee at Asylum Welcome. Asylum Welcome are a long-standing Oxford charity supporting men detained at Campsfield House. She is also a researcher based at the University of Bristol. Asylum Welcome [...]

Unlocked2022-10-05T20:13:07+00:00November 4th, 2015|

Three Scenes from Campsfield IRC

This piece was written for Unlocking Detention by William, from the Freed Voices group. William was detained in Campsfield Immigration Removal Centre for four days before he was transferred to another detention centre, where he was incarcerated for [...]

Unlocked2022-10-05T20:14:19+00:00November 4th, 2015|

Stop Campsfield Expansion: a victory worth celebrating

This blog post was written by Bill MacKeith for Unlocking Detention. Bill is a founding member of the Campaign to Close Campsfield. This month marks the 22nd anniversary of the opening of Campsfield detention centre, an occasion that [...]

Unlocked2022-10-05T20:15:07+00:00November 2nd, 2015|

A visitor’s view of Campsfield

Campsfield House is widely considered one of the 'better-run' IRCs and the last report by HMIP, the official inspection body, vouched for this. Most people detained there, who have experienced other IRCs, like Harmondsworth or Brook House, agree [...]

Unlocked2022-10-05T20:16:05+00:00November 2nd, 2015|

Unlocking Detention: A week at Harmondsworth

This week, Unlocking Detention visited Harmondsworth detention centre near Heathrow airport. Harmondsworth is not only the biggest detention centre (immigration removal centre) in the UK, but also in Europe. Catch with all our tweets - including our twice [...]

Unlocked2022-10-05T20:16:50+00:00October 30th, 2015|

‘The person who emerges from detention is never the same as the person who went in’

This piece was written by Maddy Crowther of Waging Peace, for Unlocking Detention. The article was first published on the Justice Gap, who are partnering with us on #Unlocked15 Detention centres are remote places. Some are marooned in [...]

Unlocked2022-10-05T20:18:02+00:00October 30th, 2015|

Visiting The Verne detention centre

We asked members of the Verne Visitors group to share their thoughts and experiences on visiting people at the Verne. We were interested to hear what led them to start visiting, what they discovered when they started visiting, [...]

Unlocked2022-10-05T20:18:50+00:00October 29th, 2015|

Jammin’ & bluesin’: Music in Detention at Harmondsworth

This blog post was written by Music in Detention volunteer, Alicia. I have been volunteering in the office at Music In Detention (MID) for the last two months and I was really excited when I found out I [...]

Unlocked2022-10-05T20:19:42+00:00October 28th, 2015|

Harmondsworth: Story of those detained within the walls

This blog post was written by Susannah Willcox, who is an Advocacy Co-ordinator at Detention Action. Working in this capacity, she regularly visits and runs workshops in Harmondsworth detention centre. This story of Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) [...]

Unlocked2022-10-05T20:20:53+00:00October 23rd, 2015|