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 will marked on 28th November by something like the 248th demonstration calling [...]
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 in my experience. But for all that, the effect of detention on [...]
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 daily 'tours' - on Twitter with the hashtag #Unlocked15. You can also [...]
‘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 bleak and unexceptional business parks and one is situated on what amounts [...]
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, what they thought the hardest part of visiting was, and to describe [...]
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 was going to the YMCA in Hayes, and Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre [...]
Dover detention centre to close!
This was originally published on AVID website, and with their kind permission, republished here. Dover detention centre to close! 26 October 2015 Dover detention centre, which held 401 single male detainees, is to close by the end of October, it was announced last week. The centre, previously a prison and [...]
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) is not mine to tell. It is the story of those detained [...]