Close The Verne - End Detention
Channel: Dissent Is Beautiful
Date: 2016-05-10

Every year over 30,000 people are indefinitely locked up in high­-security prisons (called ‘Immigration Removal Centres’ or ‘detention centres’) without adequate access to legal advice, and with poor health care provision. On Saturday May 7th, simultaneous demonstrations were held outside detention centres spanning the length of the UK and beyond. They included a protest outside The Verne Immigration Removal Centre on Portland, which has been called “the UK’s most isolated detention centre” and is the third largest in Europe. Protester drew attention to the plight of those in detention by making noise outside, so those inside could hear that they are supported and not forgotten. 

The Verne is uniquely run by the Prison Service. Aside from  its isolated location, which prevents many detainees from receiving visits, an HM Inspectorate of Prisons report in March 2015 reported high levels of violence within The Verne as well as considerable difficulty for detainees in obtaining legal representation. The inspectors found that just 30 minutes of free legal advice was available and many detainees “struggled to obtain representation to fight their cases”. The report also highlighted “excessive stays”, finding that 40 of The Verne’s 580 inmates had been in detention for over a year and one had been held for over five years. Elsewhere the expanding UK detention estate is often run by private outsourced companies including G4S, Serco, and GEO, who profit from the imprisonment and exploitation of people held indefinitely, simply for ‘administrative’ purposes. 

Detention centres rarely garner media attention. Journalists are not permitted to visit people in detention, people detained have been punished for speaking to journalists, have limited internet access, and no access to cameras or camera phones, making gaining primary source material nearly impossible. There have been 2,230 attempted suicides since 2007 and 26 deaths across the UK detention estate since 1989 – showing the devastating effects of detention on physical and mental health. The protests aim to raise the issue of immigration detention, and its abuses, onto public platforms. Demonstrations took place in solidarity with the people who are currently detained, and in support of the daily actions people in detention make to protest their imprisonment and deportation such as yard occupations, hunger strikes, riots, and resistance to forced removals. 

We do not call for a time limit on detention, we demand an END to detention!

For more information visit https://closetheverne.wordpress.com/