"Detention kills" - Vigil in memory of Mikhail Bodnarchuk

And that dismal cry rose slowly
And sank slowly through the air
Full of spirit's melancholy
And eternity's despair!
And they heard the words it said
Mikhail is dead, Mikhail is dead
                      Borrowed and adapted from Elizabeth Barret Browning

     Following the tragic suicide of Mikhail at Haslar removal/detention prison on the 31st of January 2003 there will be a vigil of remembrance outside the centre.

9.00am Friday the 7th of February 2003 all are welcome.

Haslar Immigration Removal/detention Prison
2 Dolphin Way
Gosport,
Hants PO12 2AW

Enquiries/further details contact Sophy on 07801-222714

"Remembrance of things bad" - an ex-detainee of Haslar, recalls his impressions

     After being taken to Harmondsworth Detention Centre in 2000, the first thing I was told was that a detainee *Robratas Grabys, had committed suicide just a few days before. After spending one day there I was taken under guard to Haslar Detention Prison, where I was greeted with tall walls, big gates and intimidating prison guards whose desire was none other than to keep me under lock and key. I was strip searched upon arrival, and then issued with prison wash kit and uniform. To confirm my new status as a prisoner, I was given a prison ID card. Haslar's regime and routine was to me, more prison-like, compared to Harmondsworth.

     The confinement and repetitive cycle of life, or lack of it, there is what constitutes mental persecution for a lot of inmates. It is also very difficult coming to terms with fellow inmates being removed on very short notice. Most of the time the mood is grim because you are resigned to believe that any next call could be for your removal directions.

     In detention, I was, like all other asylum seekers there, condemned to the  lowest and gloomiest point of my life. I cried a lot - believing that it is when you cry in the darkest hour of despair that you will stumble on a source of goodness, goodness I called for and goodness I tried to fetch, but goodness just refused to come.

     Detention was for me where hope and inspiration were impossible to sustain. I tried to keep going, but I came very close to a mental break down. For the first time in my life I felt it easier to contemplate suicide than not to and I did come very close to going ahead with it, but I felt guilty about plunging my family into further disaster my plight was already too much for them to bear.

     In detention I saw fellow asylum seekers going clinically insane, attempting suicide. You would think that these scenes which would trigger human rights probes, but not when it is asylum seekers. Detainees/prisoners were never informed about what happened to those who tried to harm themselves they were simply taken away, and the outside world will never know. Because it is only asylum seekers.

     Arbitrary detention is wrong, it is inhumane, it must be stopped.

   Anon, ex-detainee Haslar

*On Monday 24th January 2000, Robratas Grabys, a 49 year old Lithuanian asylum seeker was found hanged at Harmondsworth Detention Centre.
http://www.ncadc.org.uk/letters/frontpage/lith.html

Send messages of condolence/solidarity
c/o Haslar Visitors Group
mw@chichesterquakers.org

Related Material:

In Remembrance of Mikhail Bodnarchuk

Haslar - a place of no return