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.
Released but not yet free: the Home Office immigration curfew system
This post was written by Ravi Naik, Public and International Law Solicitor and Head of Public Law at ITN Solicitors. Ravi acted for the Claimant in the "Gedi v SSHD" [...]
Live Q and A with Mark, detained in The Verne
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 [...]
The Verne: An exercise in societal segregation
By Susannah Willcox, Advocacy Coordinator at Detention Action. Trigger warning: suicide In August this year, there was public outcry at the proposed introduction of a new Detention Services Order (DSO) [...]
The detention regime through its chaplaincy services
This blog post which sheds light on a little-discussed aspect of detention - the chaplaincy services available at every centre - is written by Gayle Munro. Gayle has insight into [...]
First week of #Unlocked16: Short-term holding centres and prisons
What an exciting first week of Unlocking Detention 2016! This first week was partly an introduction to this virtual tour of the UK's immigration detention estate, but also focused on [...]
The Verne: Let my people go
By Mo*, 12 months in detention** Detention in the Verne is like being stuck in an island, in an island, in an island, in an island. Your cell is the [...]
Live Q and A with Abdi, detained in prison
This afternoon, Ben from Detention Action conducted a live Q and A with 'Abdi' who is currently detained, under immigration powers, in a prison. Ben asked Abdi questions that you, [...]
Arresting the mass detention of migrants: ‘Build trust, not walls’
In this #Unlocked16 article, Jerome Phelps of Detention Action writes for Open Democracy 50:50 on how "the pragmatic development of alternatives to detention with civil society at the fore can [...]
Build Trust, Not Walls
By Kasonga, a member of the Freed Voices group. I was detained in prison under immigration powers, and then in Harmondsworth and Colnbrook IRCs, for over two years altogether. The [...]
The Death Warrant
In this first week of Unlocking Detention 2016 (which runs until 18 December), we are shining a spotlight on perhaps the most hidden sites of detention: short-term holding centres, and [...]
Communicating immigration detention
This blog post was written by Eiri Ohtani, Coordinator of the Detention Forum for the PICUM (Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants) blog, published on 10 October 2016. How [...]
#Unlocked16 is here!
By Lisa Matthews, Coordinator at Right to Remain. "I knew nothing about this. I didn’t know about detention" "The first time I found out about detention was when the key [...]