New mobile phone restrictions in UK detention centre

Image via Wikipedia

Source: Corporate Watch

New detainees arriving at Yarl's Wood immigration prison, run by outsourcing giant Serco, are being given new mobile phones locked to O2 SIM cards with the back covers glued on so that no other SIM cards can be used, Corporate Watch can reveal. The new system, criticised by campaigners for isolating, monitoring and exploiting detainees even further, follows a similar scheme introduced by G4S in Tinsley House, near Gatwick airport.

The new phone system in Yarl's Wood started last month for new arrivals, with the aim of rolling it out for “the majority of residents” by the end of October. According to Serco, there are no immediate plans to roll it out to its other detention centre, Colnbrook, near Heathrow.

A letter handed by the management to all detainees in early August 2011 stated:

“Every resident will be issued with a mobile phone on the O2 network, which has the strongest mobile phone signal of all the networks in the Yarl's Wood area ... This will be phased in over the next few weeks.” 

The letter adds that the phones have a “built-in SIM card and a fixed mobile telephone number”, and that O2 top-up credit “can be purchased from [the centre's] shop”.

Earlier this year, Corporate Watch revealed that G4S had contracted secure telecommunications company Global Comms and Consulting Ltd (GCC) to run a new phone system in Tinsley House, one of its Gatwick immigration prisons. Detainees were given special new phones that could be monitored and disrupted when necessary by the immigration authorities or the prison's management. Calls were also said to be more expensive and detainees were not able to call free numbers. The new contract between Serco and O2 seems to be Serco's response to G4S's trial scheme, which was expected to be rolled out to all other detention centres in the UK if “successful”.

'Best coverage'

The Yarl's Wood O2 phones come with an initial £5 free credit but detainees say this runs out “much faster than it should.” Although Serco claims that its rates are “competitive”, O2 is not the cheapest mobile network for calls within the UK or abroad, and many detainees prefer to use low-cost providers such as Lebara and Lyca. But Serco insists that the reason for choosing O2 is that it provides “the best signal coverage at Yarl's Wood”, declining to comment on whether other providers were considered before deciding on O2.

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In UK, Border Agency mistakes costing government millions

Yarl's wood image via Wikipedia

Source: The Independent

By Wesley Johnson

More than £12 million was paid out in legal costs and compensation to asylum seekers and other immigrants last year, figures have showed.

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) paid a total of £14.2 million last year in compensation, legal costs and ex gratia payments, up almost £2 million on the previous year, the agency's annual report for 2010/11 showed.

This included payments to families who were unlawfully detained and removed, as well as £175,000 in compensation to an asylum seeker who was unlawfully detained and injured while in custody.

Legal costs alone topped £7.7 million in just over 1,000 cases, compared with £3.8 million for 691 cases in 2009/10.

More than £4 million was also paid out in 152 cases where each individual compensation payment was less than £250,000.

This compared with 837 such cases in 2009/10 which led to £4.4 million in compensation being paid.

The UKBA report also said the agency had "various legal claims which are currently outstanding" and had set aside £4 million, "based on past experience", for "a number of cases of unlawful detention".

A UKBA spokeswoman said:

"Detention is a necessary part of the process to remove some individuals with no right to be here.

"Cases vary from foreign national prisoners who have served their sentences but are awaiting deportation, to failed asylum cases and individuals found overstaying their visas.

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Is self-harm in detention centres a 'bargaining tool'?

Oxford vigil following death at Campsfield detention centre

Source: Corporate Watch

Two people have died from suspected heart attacks and a third killed himself in UK immigration prisons in the last month. Meanwhile, a leaked memo by Serco, which runs one the prisons, reveals that the outsourcing and security giant had dismissed similar incidents in Australia, where it runs all immigration detention facilities, accusing detainees of “creating a self-harm culture” and using it as a “bargaining tool.”

Early in the morning of 2nd July, a 47-year-old Pakistani national locked up in Colnbrook immigration prison, near Heathrow airport, collapsed in his cell with “very bad chest pain.” According to his cellmate, Muhammad Shukat had been groaning in agony for hours but his repeated pleas for help were not taken seriously by the detention centre staff, who did not call the ambulance until it was too late (see here). A postmortem found the “provisional cause” of the death to be coronary heart disease. The Home Office would not give any more details.

Less than a month later, on 31st July, another man, aged 35, was found dead in his cell, also in Colnbrook. Again, the Home Office would not reveal any details, not even his name and nationality, though unconfirmed reports by detainees said he was American.

A postmortem found the cause of death to be “a ruptured aorta” and the death was treated as “unexplained.” Aortic ruptures can be caused by a number of things, including trauma, where the aorta (the largest artery in the body, which branches directly from the heart and supplies blood to the rest of the body) is ruptured as a result of severe distress.

Two days later, on 2nd August, a 35-year-old man locked up in Campsfield House immigration prison, in Oxfordshire, was found dead in the toilets. Conflicting reports suggest he either hanged himself or cut himself with a razor blade. According to fellow detainees, the unnamed Moldovian migrant was hours away from being deported and had been moved to the short-term holding facility within the centre, causing him to become “very anxious.”  

Investigations, investigations

As usual, the UK Border Agency (UKBA) declined to comment on the specific circumstances of each case. It simply said: "the police and the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman always investigated deaths in immigration detention centres and it would be inappropriate to comment until these were complete.”

Similarly, Serco said: “While these enquiries are under way, it would not be appropriate for Serco to comment on specific cases.” However, campaigners say experience shows that these investigations are “unlikely to go anywhere” and that the whole detention system, which “drives people to such desperate measures,” should be reviewed.

A spokesperson from the Campaign to Close Campsfield, which held a vigil in Oxford following the death in Campsfield, said:

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The tortured Ugandan lesbian the UK wants to send back

Image by practicalowl via Flickr

Source: The Guardian

By Diane Taylor

A Ugandan woman who was branded with a hot iron in her home country as a punishment for her sexuality, is facing forced removal from the UK.

Last week, the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, said that the coalition had ended the practice of deporting people to countries where they face persecution because of their sexual orientation.

But Betty Tibikawa, 22, who is detained in Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre in Bedford, is awaiting removal directions after her asylum claim was refused.

Human rights organisations have consistently documented abuses against gay men and lesbians in Uganda and say that it's one of the most dangerous countries in the world for gay people.

Tibikawa had just finished high school and was due to go to university in Kampala when she was attacked by three men who taunted her about her sexuality. They pinned her down in a disused building and branded her on her inner thighs with a hot iron. They left her unconscious and when she finally managed to get home she was confined to bed for two months. An independent medical report has confirmed that her scars are consistent with being branded with a hot iron.

"I can't sleep and I'm having terrible nightmares about what will happen to me if I'm sent back to Uganda. My family have disowned me because I'm a lesbian and I'm convinced I'd be killed if I'm sent home. 

"I was 'outed' in a Ugandan magazine called Red Pepper in February of this year saying that I'm wanted for being a lesbian," she said. "This has put my life at increased risk."

Another Ugandan lesbian, BN, was due to be removed from the UK in January but her removal was halted following intervention by her lawyers. Her case is due to be heard in the court of appeal in July.

David Kato, a gay Ugandan activist, was murdered earlier this year. Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda. An anti-homosexuality bill calling for more punitive measures against gay people was due to be voted on by the Ugandan parliament last week but was not discussed. It could be brought before parliament again later in the year.

Emma Ginn, co-ordinator of Medical Justice, said:

"Despite compelling medical evidence, the UK Border Agency disbelieves Ms Tibikawa's story. UKBA do not dispute that Ms Tibikawa has scars caused by a hot flat iron, but conclude that she did not suffer any ill-treatment in Uganda. We condemn the fact that they intend to deport Ms Tibakawa to a country where being gay is illegal and puts your life at risk."

Human Rights Watch spokeswoman Gauri van Gulik said:

"Our research has shown that many cases of women like Betty are not taken seriously by the UK Border Agency. Unfortunately women who suffer this kind of violence have serious difficulty claiming asylum."

A UK Border Agency spokesperson said:

"The government has made it clear that it is committed to stopping the removal of asylum seekers who have genuinely had to leave particular countries because of their sexual orientation or gender identification.
"However, when someone is found not to have a genuine claim we expect them to leave voluntarily."

A 34-year-old gay man from Uganda was due to be removed from the UK on 17 May. UKBA did not confirm whether or not the removal went ahead.

Related articles

• In UK, gay and lesbian Ugandan refugees tell their story (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• How one gay Tanzanian's asylum rejection shows the UK system's unfairness (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• In UK, torture survivors "left to rot" in detention (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Gay asylum claims not being counted despite pledge, admit ministers (guardian.co.uk)
• Has the UK government met its promise on LGBT asylum? We don't know (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

In UK, detainees at one centre to have phones confiscated, calls monitored

Image via Wikipedia

Source: Corporate Watch

A new phone system run by a private company will replace personal mobile phones in immigration detention centres, Corporate Watch can reveal.

The trial at Tinsley House detention centre, near Gatwick airport, is run by Global Comms and Consulting Ltd (GCC), which specialises in secure telecommunications services to major government agencies and multinational companies. As a result, detainees will not be able to call free numbers and will pay significantly higher rates to call their family and solicitors. All calls will also be recorded, monitored and disrupted when necessary by the immigration authorities and/or the immigration prison's management.

Immigration detainees will have their private mobile phones confiscated on arrival and given special 'detention phones' that are connected to a central system and do not accept other SIM cards. A three-month pilot scheme has been in operation for new detainees at Tinsley since the end of February. If 'successful', it is expected to be rolled out to all other detention centres in the UK. No information about the scheme has been released to the public.

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Video: We are here because . . .

'We are here because . . .'

. . .  is an inspiring and moving collection of online video and other testimonies, filmed, recorded, edited and produced by Black/women of colour, who are service users and volunteers with Black Women’s Rape Action Project in London. The testimonies are the product of an invaluable process whereby women from different backgrounds worked together, developed technical skills, and learnt from each other.

The majority are members of the All African Women’s Group a self-help group of women asylum seekers.  Most are mothers, some have been in detention, many have been separated from their children. All give deeply compelling and often painful accounts of what they have been, and still go through, to get protection and rebuild their lives.

Some of the videos follow.

• See the archive

Neisha: "I was in Yarl’s Wood for five months and I came out in December the 15th. I seek asylum 'cause I am a lesbian, and in my tribunal case, my partner came and she gave evidence and everything. I’ve given all my letters of support, all my evidence, and in my determination I was told that they didn’t believe that I was a lesbian, but the judge believed my partner . . ."

Read more »

Report: medical care denied to UK immigration detainees with HIV/Aids

Source: Medical Justice

Most HIV+ immigration detainees helped by Medical Justice have been denied life-saving medication in detention according to our new research.

'Detained and Denied', based on the first ever comprehensive analysis of treatment of HIV+ immigration detainees in the UK draws on medical evidence from eight independent clinicians who assessed the detainees. Many of the 35 men, women and children studied are torture survivors from countries where rape is used as a weapon of war.

As a result of denial of medication some detainees have developed drug resistance, necessitating more complex drug combinations which are inaccessible to many in the country they are being deported to.  Without these drugs they may die within a few years, leaving their children orphans in a country some of them have never been to before.

More than three-quarters of the people in our study who were deported, had little or no medication. The UK Border Agency (UKBA) tried to deport an HIV+ pregnant mother who had been given less than a month's medication even though it is critical that treatment is not interrupted during pregnancy, to avoid a newborn child becoming infected.

Medical Justice has been granted permission by the Court of Appeal to intervene in the case of three HIV-positive (ex)detainees it has assisted who seek to have their detention ruled unlawful because of failure to treat them properly.  The 'Detained and Denied' report will form part of Medical Justice’s evidence that will be submitted.

Medical Justice calls for UK Border Agency to immediately stop detaining people who are HIV+ for immigration purposes.

Read more »

Prossy Kakooza: Kato "a hero and an inspiration"

David Kato

By Prossy Kakooza

It is three years and six months since I came to Britain from Uganda to ask for asylum because of my sexuality. Yet it feels like yesterday – especially with the recent news coming from my home country, which has brought back a lot of bad memories.

Hearing about the murder of the Ugandan gay rights campaigner David Kato was heartbreaking. I first heard of him when I was a young lesbian just coming to terms with who I was. Every single day there was a new threat to his life, but he stood tall and unwavering in the face of opposition. So many unknown gay people were disappearing one minute and turning up dead the next in mysterious circumstances; Kato was one of the few people who dared to ask why it happened. Before he died, he had just won a case stopping all major homophobic newspapers from "naming and shaming" gay people in Uganda. For me he was a hero, because he was my voice.

Following that news, it was very sad for me to hear that a lesbian from Uganda, known for legal reasons only as BN, was at Yarl's Wood awaiting deportation, on the grounds that the Home Office did not believe she was gay. Fortunately she has been granted a temporary reprieve. I can relate to this and know how hard it is to get asylum in the UK.

A lot happened to me in Uganda before I came to seek refuge here. I was imprisoned for being gay. I was also gang-raped, badly burned and beaten in a police station.

I managed to escape with the help of a family member. Naively, when I reached England I sighed in relief, thinking it was the end of my suffering and that I was going to be protected straight away – it never occurred to me that I was about to embark on the longest and toughest fight of my life. The asylum system is ruthless and can be very brutal.

Read more »

BN released from detention

Ugandan lesbian BN was released earlier this evening from detention in Yarl's Wood Removal Centre.

We understand that BN was not informed about the reasons for her removal but her legal representative said that it is not unusual when legal proceedings are continuing for an asylum claimant who is not believed to be a risk to abscond to be released.

BN is believed to be heading for a different part of London from where she formally resided.

BN's Judicial Review deadline in on Friday. This is not a hearing but the deadline for receipt of new evidence which would, in the case of BN, show the specific threat if she was to be removed.

If this review is accepted then a fresh claim for asylum can proceed.

UK preparing to put asylum seeking Ugandan lesbian "in real danger”

Get notified when this page changes!
by WatchThatPage.com

By Paul Canning

8.30 pm GMT, 28 January: Brenda has lost appeal for fresh claim. Final legal stop is if a Court of Appeal judge will reconsider. Activists are calling Virgin Atlantic to refuse to carry her on flight VS671 (Nairobi).
9.30 pm: The appeal court judge has granted a temporary injunctions stopping her removal.

Brenda Namigadde wins second chance, no thanks to Theresa May

British judge's ruling on Brenda Namigadde: ignorant but typical

Next hearing, Monday 7 February, Royal Courts of Justice.

A 22,452 strong petition for Brenda Namigadde was delivered to Theresa May MP, Home Secretary at the Home Office in London, Friday 28 January at 12.30pm.
More pictures from the vigil and petition delivery

• Ugandan lesbian asylum seeker threatened with removal by UK today
• 'Kill the gays' bill author sends her message: she should "repent and reform" or be imprisoned - she won't
• Placed like other lesbian asylum seekers in fast track
• Are new rules on treating such cases being applied?
• Action alert: how you can help, sign petition
• Guardian, Huffington Post, BBC, CNN coverage - Metro cover
• Over 60,000 sign petition from 85 countries: 'deluge' of email
• Leading Ugandan LGBTI activist killed, presumed murdered 
• Does Foreign Office want Brenda saved, to weaken anti-gay Ugandan MP Bahati? 
• Shadow Home Secretary told 'case is to be looked at again'
• London Ugandan embassy vigil 
• Bombshell info on why Brenda's lesbianism rejected 
• Government DID refuse to intervene, ignoring campaign 
• MP submits motion for Brenda to House of Commons

Updating, scroll to end

The author of Uganda's notorious 'kill the gays' bill has contacted a US journalist to pass the message to a lesbian asylum seeker to return home - but to stop being homosexual or she will be arrested.

Uganda-born student, Brenda Namigadde, 29, is currently detained in Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre and has a removal order for this Friday, 28 January. Asylum has been refused on grounds she is not believed to be lesbian and she has been placed in 'fast track. A fresh claim for asylum with new evidence was put in yesterday.

In an astonishing interview with the bill's author, David Bahati MP, Melanie Nathan of LezGetReal relates how Bahati contacted her, concerned about how Namigadde might be effecting Uganda's image.

Read more »

Denise McNeill freed from prison, out on bail

Image by jonycunha via Flickr

The asylum seeker Denise McNeill was today given bail after nearly a year's detention in Holloway Prison, according to No One Is Illegal.

McNeill led a hunger strike last year in protests at conditions at Yarl's Wood detention centre, which was allegedly violently broken up by guards. She has been held at Holloway Prison since.

"I think they moved me from Yarl's Wood to cover up what they'd done: to stop my ability to talk out," she has said.

Source: NCADC

Yesterday, one of the Yarl’s Wood 3, Denise McNeil, was granted bail at an immigration court in Hatton Cross. Her supporters in the courtroom clapped as the judge made his decision.

Denise was released from Holloway prison this evening. She said

‘After 28 months, 1 week and 5 days I am finally reunited with my family and supporters. We’re going to keep campaigning for Sheree and Aminata and all the people in Yarl’s Wood until it’s closed’

In February 2010, refugees and migrants held at the Yarl’s Wood immigration prison organised a hunger strike, demanding an end to indefinite imprisonment and abuse. Their courageous protest lasted five weeks, despite violent attacks by Serco’s private security guards, who manage the detention centre. Their action was ‘for everyone in detention.’

Over 70 women of colour participated in the hunger strike which forced the authorities to release many of them. In retribution, several people involved in the hunger strike were singled out and moved to prisons. The effect of this is also to intimidate other detainees from speaking out about their experience of the immigration system.

After Denise was released today two women targeted in this way are still behind bars: Sheree Wilson and Aminata Camara. They are being held without charge and a court order. They have been away from their families, friends and communities for far too long. Today supporters said that the campaign to free them would continue.

‘We are delighted that Denise has been released from prison today’ one of her supporters said. ‘We will continue to fight for Sheree and Aminata to be granted bail and for Denise to stay in Britain with her children. When they try to silence people by putting them in prison we will fight back’

Supporters packed the court today to show solidarity with Denise. A letter from Denise’s youngest son was also given to the Judge. Denise said ‘Tre’s letter touched the heart of the Judge’. Several groups were represented including No One is Illegal, No Borders, Crossroads Women’s Centre, Communities of Resistance, Stop Deportation Network and members of the RMT.

1. For more information, contact George Lavender 07783322752 or email freedenisenow@gmail.com

2. On New Year’s Eve, friends, family and supporters of the Yarl’s Wood 3 came together outside Holloway Prison for a noisy demonstration of solidarity. Messages of support came from organisations and individuals in Britain, and around the world. In Sweden, a giant banner was hung in central Malmo, calling for ‘ Asylum for all in 2011′. indymedia

3. A Facebook page for the campaign has been created

4. Nick Clegg was widely criticized for ‘rebranding detention’

5. For more information about Denise McNeil’s campaign, visit her NCADC campaign page

6. Asylum seekers win new strength to fight after Yarl’s Wood hunger strike’

Twitter feed: @freedenisenow

Related articles

• Action Alert: Free Denise McNeil (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Denise McNeil jailed for a year 'to silence her' (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

The failure of UK MPs to hold Border Agency to account

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Source: openDemocracy

‘Much of the delay in concluding asylum and other immigration cases stems from poor quality decision-making when the application is initially considered,’ says Keith Vaz, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC) in their report on the UK Border Agency’s work.

Two cheers for Vaz and the HASC! It might be three if only they were clearer and more forceful in their criticism of an agency whose deficiencies are systemic and rooted in a culture characterised by denial and deceit.

The automatic disbelief that greets asylum seekers from their first moment of arrival, coupled with a shocking disregard for human rights, compounded by the lack of legal services that might check official incompetence have created a Kafkaesque nightmare for vulnerable people who come to these shores seeking sanctuary.

‘More consistent and rigorous scrutiny of applications would lead to fewer delays, fewer appeals, less uncertainty for the applicant, less pressure on the officials themselves, and probably lower costs for the UK taxpayer,’ says Vaz, noting mildly that this ‘is also likely to require more consistent and considered direction from those setting policy for the Agency than has sometimes been the case.’

The MPs ‘lack confidence’ in the Border Agency’s effectiveness in ‘making sure that its contractors provide adequate training and supervision of their employees in respect of the use of force,’ and add: ‘This is a fundamental responsibility of the Agency and is not simply a matter of clauses in contracts or formal procedural requirements.’

But Vaz and his colleagues must be aware that the failings go far deeper than that. Last March, when Dame Nuala O’Loan, investigating allegations that contractors’ staff had roughed up asylum seekers, found ‘inadequate management of the use of force by the private sector companies’ and made 22 recommendations for change, UKBA chief executive Lin Homer did something quite extraordinary. She attacked the doctors and lawyers who had brought the abuses to light, for, ‘seeking to damage the reputation of our contractors’.

Read more »

Denise McNeil jailed for a year 'to silence her'

Source: Observer

By Mark Townsend

A woman who went on hunger strike in protest at her detention in the Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre claims she has been silenced by the state after being held in a prison without charge for almost a year.

Denise McNeil, a 35-year-old Jamaican, was transferred from the centre in Bedfordshire to Holloway prison in London last February after her hunger strike ended in violence when she was allegedly assaulted by Yarl's Wood staff. Her lawyer said her imprisonment was highly unusual as McNeil, a mother, could not be classified as a risk to the public and so be legally detained in prison.

Hani Zubeidi, of London-based solicitors Fadiga and Co, believes his client was singled out to deter other detainees from speaking out. Campaigners say that McNeil was hurt in scuffles with immigration staff on 8 February 2010 and that she has not received adequate medical attention for her injuries and now finds it painful to lie down. The Observer reported allegations that asylum seekers were beaten by guards later that month.

"The issue is: why she is being kept in criminal detention?" said Zubeidi. "It is not warranted and obviously more costly. She was identified as a ringleader at Yarl's Wood, so they do not want her. But is she a risk to the public? No."

McNeil's youngest son, eight-year-old Tre-Anri, is said to be traumatised by his mother being locked up in prison and is receiving psychiatric care. Inmates are not allowed mobile phones and McNeil, in a letter she wrote from prison, said she found it difficult to keep in touch with her son, who is a British national. "This country says it puts children first, but it's clear it doesn't," she wrote. "How can you separate a mother from her child for so long? I should be released to look after my children – that's every mother's right. I think they moved me from Yarl's Wood to cover up what they'd done: to stop my ability to talk out."

Read more »

100 demonstrate in support of Denise McNeill

By Paul Canning

100 people joined a demonstration last night in support of Jamaican asylum seeker Denise McNeill.

After gathering outside the prison entrance with banners and noise-makers, supporters moved to the back of the prison where they could be seen and heard by the people locked inside.

Messages of support were received from groups and individuals in Britain and around the world.

Denise is one of three detainees still jailed - without charge or trial - since a hunger strike at Yarl's Wood last February in protest against the conditions.

Her supporters have organised a demonstration for her next bail hearing, Tuesday 4th January at Richmond Magistrates Court, Parkshot, Richmond TW9 2RF. The nearest train station is Richmond, which is the final station on the District and Overground lines.

There's a Facebook page for the bail hearing demo.

• Action Alert: Free Denise McNeil

Action Alert: Free Denise McNeil

Photo of Denise's 8 year old son

Source: Free Denise McNeil campaign

Denise McNeil has been held in Holloway Prison since she was accused of being a key organiser in the five-week Yarl's Wood Hunger Strike in February 2010. After having lived in the UK for more than ten years, Denise currently faces the continued threat of forced deportation to Jamaica despite the fact that she fears for her life and that this would leave her two children, aged 8 and 17, behind in the UK.

Denise was arrested in September 2008 for possession of cannabis for personal use. She served a six month prison sentence and was taken into detention on the day of her release. It is now over two years since she has been able to care for her sons, who have suffered immense disruption and trauma due to her prolonged detention.

Denise had removal directions for September 2010, but her flight got cancelled on the day of her scheduled deportation. Since then her future is uncertain, and she is still waiting for the outcome of the judicial review of her case.

Denise’s life is in danger should she return to Jamaica. Her brother was killed in March 2010 following his forced removal from the UK. Denise has also lost a sister and cousin to gang violence in the last few years. Denise knows she would be a target if she returned to Jamaica and does not want to put her sons' lives at risk either.

In February, Denise joined a five-week hunger strike by prisoners at Yarl's Wood immigration prison to end to indefinite and abusive imprisonment. She was among the hunger strikers who were locked in a corridor for more than six hours without access to any facilities by guards attempting to force an end to the protests. She was beaten by guards, put in isolation for four weeks and moved to Holloway prison.

Denise was brave enough to speak about this incidence to the media (see below for Denise's comments in the Guardian) on several occasions and believes that this is why she was isolated and moved to prison where there is no access to a mobile phone.

Denise and two other women remain in prison as retribution for taking part in the hunger strike. Ten months on and Denise has still not received adequate medical treatment for the injuries she sustained from guards during the hunger strike.

Denise:

“I’ve suffered enough. It’s been 21 months since I’ve been detained by immigration. I’d just like to be released to be with my children to make up for this time lost and to try and fit back into society which I know is going to be hard. To be a mother like I was before this happened - that’s all I want.”

Read Denise's comments in the Guardian:

Fears for health of Yarl's Wood women in third week of hunger strike
About 20 detainees are protesting over indefinite detention and alleged racial and physical abuseAsylum seekers win new strength to fight after Yarl's Wood hunger strike
'We are determined to win justice for the violent and vicious way we were treated,' says mother in family detention centre protest
Could this woman's fight change the way Britain treats asylum seekers?
Most of the desperate mothers who are held at Yarl's Wood are quickly deported: now four of them are taking the Home Office to court, citing violations of their human rights amid nightmarish conditions. Mark Townsend reports
Immigration bosses to be quizzed after asylum seekers were 'beaten' by guards
MPs to investigate claims that women in Yarl's Wood detention centre were physically abused by officers during hunger strike
Why I am on hunger strike at Yarl's Wood
Denise McNeil, one of the detainees at Yarl's Wood, explains why she has been on hunger strike for the last two weeks

What can you do to help?

Denise took action with other women “for everyone in detention” in the hunger strike. Now we need to support her. Help Denise fight for her release and the right to remain with her sons in safety in the UK. Please refer to her Home Office Reference number which is W1015678/8

1) Stay in touch!

Email freedenisenow@gmail.com to let us know you want to be kept up to date and to get details of demonstrations and further actions.

• Facebook page

2) Write to the Jamaican High Commission asking them not to facilitate Denise's deportation

• Use the Sample model letter (Word)
• Edit online in Google Docs

His Excellency Anthony S Johnson
Jamaican High Commission
1-2 Prince Consort Road
London
SW7 2BZ

Fax: 020 7589 5154
Email: jamhigh@jhcuk.com

3) Write to the Home Secretary

Rt. Hon Theresa May, MP
Secretary of State for the Home Office,
2 Marsham St
London SW1 4DF

Fax: 020 7035 4745

emails:

mayt@parliament.uk
UKBApublicenquiries@UKBA.gsi.gov.uk
CITTO@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

4) Show your solidarity by writing to Denise in Holloway Prison:

Denise McNeil, WT4009
HMP Holloway
Parkhurst Road
London
N7 0NU

NEW YEAR'S EVE NOISE DEMONSTRATION OUTSIDE HOLLOWAY PRISON
Friday at 4:00pm
HMP Holloway, Parkhurst Rd, London N7 ONU

See also:

• MPs to investigate Yarl's Wood removal centre abuse claims; Interview with a hunger striker 
• Legal challenge over Yarl's Wood protest 
• Lesbian asylum seeker amongst Yarl's Wood hunger strikers

The UK's continued shameful neglect of migrants' health

Image via Wikipedia

Source: The Lancet

While all eyes are on the death of Jimmy Mubenga at the hands of a private firm contracted by the Home Office, another practice with potential fatal outcome by the UK Borders Agency continues quietly and unnoticed. In the context of a recent court case, it has come to light that people removed to countries where yellow fever vaccination is mandatory for entry are not given the vaccine. How does the Home Office get round this requirement?

A woman and her child who was born in the UK were removed to Cameroon last May without the child being vaccinated. Their appeal was rejected based on a letter from the Border Agency that states that there is no facility or obligation at the Yarl's Wood detention centre to provide yellow fever vaccine, and that “the Healthcare Manager at Yarl's Wood has confirmed that the vaccine can be given on arrival in the Cameroon and would be effective straightaway”. This statement reveals either an astonishing level of incompetence or blatant dishonesty. All travellers are clearly advised to obtain yellow fever vaccination 10 days before travel to achieve adequate levels of immunity. In fact, vaccination certificates will only become valid 10 days after immunisation. So, when this woman and her child were entering Cameroon, were there special arrangements locally or between governments? One can only speculate.

Clearly, this is a further example of shocking indifference and double standards in providing preventive or medical care to those in immigration detention or without a valid UK visa. 2 years ago, we described the case of a woman on dialysis sent back to Ghana as atrocious barbarism. Last month, the charity Medical Justice summarised its findings on mistreatment of children in detention centres in its report ‘State Sponsored Cruelty’: Children in immigration detention [PDF]. Among 50 children facing removal, there was inadequate immunisation or administration of incorrect prophylactic drugs.

Any country that purports to uphold human rights and look after its vulnerable people has a duty to ensure that required prevention and treatment is given to all. Cutting corners in the treatment of asylum seekers and their children is simply disgraceful. 

Video: UK asylum seeker women's hunger strike: Louder than words

By Black Women’s Rape Action Project

When 70 women went on hunger strike in Yarl’s Wood IRC on 5 February, an unprecedented level of media coverage followed. Rape survivors, mothers separated from their children, and other vulnerable women, some of whom had been detained without trial for months (one for over a year), spoke publicly to complain about the conditions they suffered, why they were driven to protest, and how they resisted official attempts to deny and subvert their action.

On 29 June, a packed meeting in the House of Commons hosted by John McDonnell MP, and chaired by Stella Mpaka, All African Women’s Group (AAWG) and Cristel Amiss, Black Women’s Rape Action Project (BWRAP) brought together: women central to the hunger strike, legal and medical professionals, family members of women still detained and a wide range of other organisations and individuals.

Ms Amiss opened by thanking Mr McDonnell for bringing the hunger strikers’ demands into the corridors of power by raising “questions in Parliament, presenting an Early Day Motion and putting Ministers on the spot.”

She traced the history of the hunger strike back to a January meeting in Parliament where women from detention spoke about the injustices they and others endured. Ms Amiss then gave a snapshot of the continuous daily support provided, including stopping removals, finding lawyers, arranging interviews and producing 14 updates – all with the aim of getting maximum publicity for maximum protection for the hunger strikers.

“When women inside stick their neck out, it changes what is needed from those of us outside. Our focus has to be to defend and support women who are vulnerable to reprisals.”

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Our national disgrace: The detainees wrongly held in UK 'prisons'

Image by Gareth Harper via FlickrSource: The Voice

By Merissa Richards

Hundreds of black people are currently being held in immigration detention centres - some have been held for several years. So, how fair is our system of deportation? Merissa Richards spoke to detainees, campaigners and the UK Border Agency.

The coalition Government announced recently that they will be closing down the family wing at Yarl's Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire, where in controversial circumstances women and children awaiting deportation from the UK are held.

While the move has been welcomed by immigrant welfare organisations, there is still a great deal of concern over the numbers of people being held in detention while their right to stay in Britain is being examined. There is also disquiet among lawyers and campaigners that many of those in detention are being held illegally and have a clear right of abode in the UK, and many have mental health issues or are victims of torture – grounds which should legally stop someone from being held in detention.

Earlier this year, a freedom of information request by the BBC as to the extent of compensation payouts made by the Government to those found to be held illegally, was refused. However, former immigration minister Phil Woolas admitted that millions of pounds had been paid to migrants for wrongful detention.

A survey of solicitors by the BBC found evidence of payments totalling at least £2m. According to the BBC in the past three years five legal firms have won compensation for a total of 121 individuals. In one case a Congolese family were paid £150,000.

There are currently around 2,800 people in detention, of which over a third are of African or Caribbean origin. Last year a total of 1,065 were deported to Africa and the Caribbean. Many detainees have claimed that they are being unlawfully detained and in some cases wrongly refused asylum, with the tacit support of immigration lawyers who they claim do little to help them.

In many cases those held in detention centres have been convicted of a criminal offence and, therefore, their cases arouse limited public sympathy and support.

During The Voice’s own investigation we came across one detainee who had been held for three years while his case was investigated. Someone being held in prison-like detention for three years without a trial or conviction may shock many Britons unaware that this is going on right now in this country.

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Asylum seekers win new strength to fight after Yarl's Wood hunger strike

Source: guardian.co.uk

By Karen McVeigh

The government's recent announcement that it would close the family section of the Yarl's Wood immigration centre as part of its plan to end child detention was universally welcomed; MPs, children's groups and human rights groups had long condemned the "moral outrage" of locking them up. But it gave scant comfort to the women detained in the complex's remaining three wings, many of whom have spent long periods separated from their children.

Six months after the start of a hunger strike by up to 70 women at Yarl's Wood, to highlight what they say was unfair and degrading treatment, the Guardian has spoken to several of those who took part.

They are fighting a legal battle to gain official recognition that the protest even took place – something the Home Office and the private security firm which runs the Bedfordshire facility dispute – and to secure an inquiry into their allegations of violence and racial abuse by guards.

Behind the locked doors of the prettily named Avocet, Bunting and Dove wings in Yarl's Wood are many extremely vulnerable women, among them victims of torture and rape, and those who have fled domestic violence, destitution or both.

Seven people spoke to the Guardian, all but one of them mothers, whose children were mainly either British-born or had spent most of their lives here.

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Yarl's Wood lesbian hunger striker still in detention

By Paul Canning

The Black Women's Rape Action Project has reported on the woman involved in a hunger strike in February at the Yarl's Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire, which included a Jamaican lesbian.

They say that 13 of the original 25 have now been released.

All had spent months in detention and one woman had been there for a year and a half.  Some had WON THEIR CASE but were being kept inside by a vindictive Home Office which was appealing the judgement.  Women described feeling like forgotten people.  One of the key demands of the hunger strike was for an end to indefinite detention.

The collective power generated by the hunger strike has had a huge impact helped greatly by the widespread publicity.  Judges who were previously hostile and discriminatory are suddenly more willing to consider granting bail. Women, previously disparaged as “bogus asylum seekers” who “prolong their own detention” are being seen for who they are: rape survivors who have suffered terrible violence and trauma and mothers who have lived and raised families in the UK for years and who are distraught at being separated from their children.

Two of the hunger strikers have been removed and the group say that "many believe they were both fast tracked out of the UK as punishment for the crucial legal and co-ordinating work they did."

Ms O, a lesbian woman from Jamaica, remains inside Yarl's Wood because the Home Office won their appeal against the court’s original decision to grant her leave to remain. Her legal team have submitted a further appeal based on evidence of the violence she would suffer if returned.

In March UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group (UKLGIG) reported in 'Failing the grade' that two thirds of the cases reviewed for the report were refused because UK Border Agency (UKBA) staff said that claimants could 'internally relocate'. The report noted that this is especially difficult for lesbians and gay men in a small island nation like Jamaica where there is a culture of virulent homophobia which exists everywhere, with violence committed frequently (and well documented) against lesbians and gay men.

Nine out of ten of the Jamaican cases reviewed were told to go home and relocate. Yet all the cases were claiming asylum precisely because they were 'caught' with a partner or were already perceived to be lesbian or gay. This, says the report "is an impossible no-win situation."

Jamaican cases also face misuse of the actual Home Office signed-off evidence of persecution in particular countries. There have been numerous reports on the problem of the country guidance made available to decision makers. Here's a line from one refusal letter:

“There is no evidence to corroborate that lesbians generally face serious ill-treatment in Jamaica.”

In January glbtqja reported on a 2009 case of 'corrective rape' of a lesbian couple who had relocated within Jamaica to restart their lives due to a previous homophobic attack.