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.
Live Q and A with Dave, detained in Morton Hall
This week Unlocking Detention has been ‘visiting’ Morton Hall in Lincolnshire. On Friday afternoon, Ben from Detention Action conducted a live Twitter Q&A with Dave, who's been detained for nearly two [...]
The Home Office’s unlawful immigration curfews, post-detention
This article by Ravi Naik, Public and International Law Solicitor and Head of Public Law at ITN Solicitors, was first published by the Justice Gap. The unravelling of the Home Office’s [...]
Reimagining violence: Hannah Arendt and the bureaucratisation of life in immigration detention
Image courtesy of Freed Voices This guest post by Amanda Schmid-Scott, PhD Researcher at the University of Exeter, asks: what might a re-imagining of violence reveal about the lived experience of [...]
Week 3 of #Unlocked16: Brook House and Tinsley House
Week 3 of Unlocking Detention was all about Brook and Tinsley Houses. Together they make up the Gatwick site of detention, situated roughly 200 metres from the main runway at [...]
Detention and the policing of parenthood
By Melanie Griffiths, an ESRC Future Leaders Fellow at the University of Bristol. This article was originally published as part of Unlocking Detention in Open Democracy. The British state has [...]
Detention and Friendship: Knowing you inside (and) out
This year, the theme of Unlocking Detention is 'friends and families' and in this (very) special #Unlocked16 recording, Kasonga from Freed Voices interviews his old friend, Harsha, about the impact [...]
What does detention mean to you?
Unlocking Detention is about having a conversation, and making connections between those in, at risk of, or recovering from detention; and the public, allies, activists who we need to be [...]
Live Q and A with Jon, detained in Brook House
This week Unlocking Detention has been ‘visiting’ Brook and Tinsley Houses, respectively. Together they make up the Gatwick site of detention, situated roughly 200 metres from the main runway at [...]
The hidden, human reality of indefinite detention
By James Wilson, director of Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group. Imagine being in prison but not held for a crime, counting up the days since you were detained but never able [...]
“How can this be legal?” Incredulity and anger when Unlocking Detention
By Lisa Matthews, Coordinator at Right to Remain. This article was originally published on the Right to Remain blog. Over the last few months, I’ve run several workshops across the [...]
A Letter to The Old Me, Before Brook House
Content warning: suicide This year, Unlocking Detention is particularly focusing on the impact of detention on an individual’s immediate social circle – their friends and family. This piece by Ajay [...]
Week 2 of #Unlocked16: The Verne
This week, Unlocking Detention visited The Verne, perhaps the most isolated of the UK's detention centres. The Verne opened as a detention centre ("immigration removal centre") in 2014, and has [...]