The following statement was read out to a representative of the Campaign to Close Campsfield on Tuesday 31st July at 5.30pm with the request that it be distributed to the media.
"Detainees at Campsfield will be having a sit-out protest at 11.45 tonight 31 July 2007, followed by a hunger strike tomorrow.
Newport immigration court, which is used for bail hearings and appeals involving Campsfield detainees, is very discriminatory compared to other courts in the UK: the bail application and appeal success rate there is less than 5%.
Living conditions for detainees are appalling. Campsfield is a health hazard with 70% infection with flu. Paracetomol is the only medicine made available; two weeks ago even this ran out. Campsfield was rife with scabies, but only staff were issued with gloves.
Although detainees are held civil detainees, not convicted prisoners or prisoners on remand, food, toilets and showers are a lot worse than in prisons.
Some detainees are being held even though they have won an appeal against deportation. Others have clearly stated that they want to go back to their country of origin but have still been waiting in Campsfield for months."
Following the issuing of the statement earlier today a detainee has sent
photos taken on a mobile phone.They support allegations of overcrowding and
dirty toilets in Campsfield 'House' Immigration Removal Centre at Kidlington
near Oxford.
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As of 8pm, after a local radio station contacted the centre manager Jo Hanner, she and guards have been trying to blackmail and pressure detainees into calling off the protest, promising that the Home Office will be in to talk to them tomorrow at 2pm. Nevertheless, at present, 11.30pm, detainees haved dragged mattreses into then yard to begin their protest.
"There will be a candle-lit demonstration of support for hunger-striking detainees at Campsfield this evening at 9pm. Please come with candles, musical instruments, pans etc.
For directions see events page.
Last night more than 150 men stayed outside in protest till 3am. Half a dozen stayed out all night.
Detainees have been promised a meeting with a Home Office representative at 2pm this afternoon, to discuss their grievances.
These include worsening conditions in the centre, incredibly high bail-refusal rates at the new Newport Immigration "court", and the sheer shock and outrage felt by the growing numbers of men inside who have been designated "foreign criminals". These are often men who have lived in Britain for years, and who have families that now face destitution. Typically they have committed very minor (e.g. driving) offences, for which they have already been punished, or have been caught out by one of the new "immigration crimes", like arriving in the UK with incorrect or no travel documents.
British prisons fail to meet many standards of decency, but Campsfield and the other IRCs are "far, far worse" according to detainees who have experienced both. In prisons, there are at least rules, which carry some weight, basic decencies are to some extent maintained, and you know roughly what will happen to you and when.
Since the Home Office handed the Campsfield contract to US prisons-for-profit company GEO (Global Expertise in Outsourcing, previously known as Wackenhut Corrections Corporation) last year, occupancy has been driven up from 180 to 215 by packing more and more men into the cells. Simultaneously fewer and fewer services have been provided for them. This resulted in a major riot earlier this year, which the recent Whalley Report warned could re-occur at any time unless there were major changes."
Bob Hughes (Campaign to Close Campsfield)
01/08/2007 12:28 pm
:: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ::
HOME OFFICE REPS ROASTED BY ANGRY, WELL-INFORMED CAMPSFIELD DETAINEES.
FOLLOWING TUESDAY NIGHT'S LARGE, DISCIPLINED YARD-PROTEST and Wednesday morning's hunger strike, two Home Office representatives were called to Campsfield on Wednesday afternoon to hear the detainees' grievances. The pair, including the Assistant Director of Escorting Services at the Borders and Immigration Authority (Philip Schoelenberger?) were confronted by an angry, articulate, multi-national delegation of 22 detainees in a meeting that lasted 2 and a half hours.
The stunned Home Office representatives promised to respond to the detainees' grievances within 48 hours, on the understanding that further demonstrations would be put on hold until 3:30pm on Friday.
Here is a summary of the detainees' demands:
1. THE DETAINEES DEMAND TEMPORARY ADMISSION. According to the Government's own rules the majority of them are being held illegally because they cannot be deported, nor is their detention a "last resort" measure. The Home Office is also in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 5 (the right to liberty) and Article 8 (the right to family life - around half of those detained at Campsfield have families, yet are detained for no compelling reason, often for months, causing great and predictable hardship).
Many detainees' families and friends have offered substantial sureties; there is no conceivable reason why they would (or could) abscond; even so they are refused bail.
2. SOME DETAINEES HAVE ACCEPTED "VOLUNTARY" repatriation. Even so, the Home Office persists in detaining them - for over 3 months in many cases. These people have surely suffered enough and should be allowed to return immediately.
3. THERE IS COMPLETE LOSS OF CONFIDENCE in the Immigration Court at Newport, South Wales, where all Campsfield bail applications are now heard and all but 5% are dismissed. Judges there are said to have a contemptuous attitude and use racist language toward detainees. The exceptionally high refusal rates can only be explained, it is felt, by entrenched racism.
Families must make long, expensive journeys to get to Newport (£150 return from London; those making longer journeys may have to stay overnight) only to see their loved one re-detained.
It is felt that the decision to move Campsfield bail hearings to Newport was malicious retaliation for the widely-publicised protests in March this year.
The detainees want future bail hearings to be held, as they were previously, at either London or Birmingham Immigration Courts.
4. THEY DEMAND AN END to the squalid and overcrowded conditions. Frequently men are held 3 to a room and sometimes up to 7 in a room. The inadequate toilets and showers have become health-hazards. In these conditions infections spread rapidly - the more so as healthcare provision is also completely inadequate. Paracetamol is prescribed for almost any condition, and sometimes not even that is available.
:: ENDS ::
For more information, contact 01865 726804 or 01865 558145
The detainees also sent a fax, on Tuesday, to the European Court of Human Rights, Liberty, Justice, Campsfield's MP Evan Harris, and the Secretary of State. This can be forwarded on request.
Bob Hughes