Gladys Mabvira: finally freed today after 6 months in Yarls Wood, she tells of the injustices experienced there
Gladys Mabvira is an opposition activist from Zimbabwe. Despite the enormous risks she would face if returned to Zimbabwe, she has time and again been issued with removal directions by the Home Office. Only her strength in adversity and last minute legal actions kept Gladys with us here in the UK. She has this morning been released from Yarls Wood IRC on temporary admission, after spending six months detained there. Gladys has been an inspiration throughout - frequently asking after other individuals for whom NCADC is campaigning - and never giving up her fight for freedom. Just days before she was released, she wrote this damning statement on the conditions in Yarls Wood:
My Views on Detention by Gladys Mabvira
My name is Gladys Tsitsi Memory Mabvira aged 32 , I have been detained at Yarlswood IRC since 22/8/2011 a total of almost 6months . I have seen so many injustices since being in detention centre , my eyes have been opened and I hope one day all such institutions will be finally closed down for good.
1. There’s a lot of unnecessary detention especially elderly (grandmothers), sick people who can’t even walk and pregnant women at Yarlswood.
2. Mothers are being separated from their children; children are put in foster care why? Because Mom is an over stayer and children on the other hand have right of stay due to being born here. Mothers are being forced to go back to their countries and the children are permanently put in foster care.
3. Similarly again they are placing young adults in detention centre who have literally been here when they were just mere children and have been here for years, grown up here, went to school here, life and family here and because they have no legal status they are being forced to go back to their Birth countries where they know no one, can’t even speak the native or local language. In the process they leave their mothers, fathers, siblings behind in the U.K.
4. Women are kept in Yarlswood for as long as 3 years, currently there is a lady who has been here for 1 year and 7 months. This place is worse than prison because at least in prison there is a time scale of how long you will serve you do your time and go . Yet in Yarlswood there is no timescale of how long you serve detention they can hold you indefinitely and the government is ok with that which I feel is wrong. Myself I have been in detention 6 months!! A drink and drive criminal or someone doing time for burglary could have already served their time in prison and been a free person in possibly 3months at most .Our only crime in Yarlswood is being an over stayer and asylum seeker where is the justice in that .
5. Women in Yarlswood are not a threat to public society; there are terrorists, murderers and thieves walking freely in the U.K. There’s a lot of potential and talent wasted by women being locked away this long there are doctors, nurses, accountants, lawyers, teachers, students etc. locked up in Yarlswood. These are people who could be benefiting the economy of the U.K in some way or the other.
6. Most of these women just want to make an honest living for themselves and their families, where is the harm of that. They are grafters that won’t sit on their backside and scrounge off the government. The cost to the tax payer of housing one resident in Yarlswood is rumoured to be at least £400 a week @ the estimated £60 -£70 a day per person. This is taking into account food, clothing, electricity, toiletries, medical services etc.
7. In addition there are other costs I have not accounted for with regards to the escort service for those with removal directions. I have been escorted to the airport twice and can confirm that each time I had 4 escorts!! This is the norm it is usually 3 to 4 escorts assigned to one person to be escorted to their Home country. Most of the time someone is escorted all the way to the airport only to be returned the next day because of as they call it a “FAILED REMOVAL “ where the detainee has shown their unwillingness to go and the airline intervenes and refuses to take the detainee on board . In other cases last minute injunctions have also resulted in a wasted trip to the airport with the detainee returning the next day.
8.Bail or temporary admission which in principle should be applied if one has shown she has credible sureties and a bail address are more than often denied even when you present all this before your caseworker or judge . Perhaps there is more satisfaction in seeing people locked up I don’t know.
9.Some ladies are refused the voluntary assistance having been here some 10 , 11 years . Once you get removal directions you automatically don’t qualify for voluntary assistance. How then are you supposed to reintegrate back into your societies after this long.
10. Healthcare services are really a slap in the face for those who are genuinely sick or unwell. The healthcare team only give you the minimal treatment which is always “take paracetamol “for any ailment its always “take paracetamol “. This just puts you off going to healthcare as no one takes you seriously when you are unwell its usually assumed people are faking it. I had a friend who was literally rolling on her bed couldn’t walk, couldn’t eat but healthcare were saying there was nothing wrong with her and were refusing to take her to the hospital and she had to rely on paracetamol. There are many such cases.
10. A lot of sites are blocked on the internet which makes it very difficult for those in detention to research and get information or new evidence for their cases. I have found that some of the websites particularly with news articles relating to my case are blocked for instance “news dze Zimbabwe “ , “indaba “, “NCADC “just to name a few .
11. Prices in the shop are ridiculously high bearing in mind we are only paid 71 pence a day into your account. If you have no friends or family to bring you toiletries its either you buy from the shop or you go without. In essence it’s a monopoly thing you just have to buy at the prices set. Food especially as no one can bring you food items not even tinned food or chocolate or crisps.
12. Funny enough you are allowed to work in detention centre yet outside of detention you have no right to work!! Ladies are paid the maximum of £1.50 an hour way below minimum wage. They are only allowed to work a maximum of 9 hours a week which means the maximum wage of anyone in detention per week is just £10 .50 . This I feel is just subtle modern day exploitation if people who are vulnerable and desperate for some form of income.
13. We are treated like prisoners from the moment we enter Yarlswood. All your clothing is searched, you are searched as well and some items are taken from you as the considered banned items!! Some jewellery can be confiscated, belts, and mobile phone have to have no camera or internet. Strangely enough Highlighter Pens are also a banned item but cigarette lighters are allowed?? . This is not an exhaustive list of Banned items but the ones I know.
14. Of late here has been a delay in issuing of mail you can have your mail sitting in reception for days before you can get it and sometimes this is urgent information. In other cases important immigration paperwork is also delivered very late to you and yet deadlines need to be met.
It’s been a journey and an experience and I pray that what I have had to go through no-one else will have to go through not even for a day.
Gladys Mabvira
thank got my sister you are still here.you have your dignity.i wish the government revisits its policies on this issue.they issuing liars with status and go on to reject genuine cases.you feel its good to do bad things sometimes because its bad people with bad behaviour who have better lives these days.
we are with you in our prayers as zimbabwean failed asylum seekers.
Its sad for people like Gladys to go through this toture. The UK government they are very quick in removing people who really deserve to be protected from the regime, dictators , murderous like Mugabe. People who are a threat to this country, terrorists they give them permission to stay, they release them from prison, and live on benefits with their families. There is no one in this world who does not no the evil treatment of anyone who ran away from zimbabwe and asked protection from the West. Sending back zimbabweans is like sending someone to his/her early grave. Why can’t the weat help Zimbabweans to remove Mugabe like they have done with other dictators ?
Zimbbweans have suffered a lot at the hands of Mugabe.
As I struggle to make sense of my current situation in Uganda, I have decided to do exactly what those in power don’t want me to do: I work with an organisation that deals with Justice and peace.
Gladys, thanks for this information, I will know how to use it and I will make sure I will get a copy for the British High Commission. If they don’t want to see human rights abuses here in this banana republic, then it should not be in their own land.
Take heart sis, one day at a time, and we shall over come all the injustices in the world if we keep our heads on our soldiers.
This is a victory over all sorts of injustices in the asylum system at least in the interim.Gladys in my own estimation is an epitome of courage and arguably one of the last rocks standing in recent times against all these misapplication of justice and conscious disregard for common sense with reference to the determination of asylum claims by the UKBA.
She is free from detention for now but this freedom is not complete until she is granted Leave To Remain in the UK.In this regard,Gladys’s supporters have every cause to continue support for until it is over.
Gladys,
I am so pleased that you are free again.I have just written to tell my MP, to whom I wrote on your behalf.Everyone in Parliament needs to read your statement. Will it be sent to Damien Green and Theresa May at the Home Office? Next September the Liberal Democrat Federal Conference will be held in Brighton and I wonder whether you would consider taking part in a fringe meeting on asylum?
Janet King
Thank you for you genuine concern , i am touched that you have written on my behalf to your MP ,, please update on the details of this meeting and will do my best to come ,, God bless
Gladys
Dear Gladys,
Your experience in the detention centre is shocking. Personally, I did not know this type of situation regarding the Zimbabweans that are seeking legal status. Applying for Asylum is not a Crime but a human right.
Gladys, would allow me to use this data at the next meeting of the Council of Elders and also take up this matter with Home Secretary and the Immigration Minister ? I am one of the Senior political demagogues from Zimbabwe and hence have reciprocal duty to fight for the Zimbabweans in the diaspora, particularly in UK.. This type of action you experienced and those currently in detention centres (D C) cannot be ignored and left unchallenged.
Thank you Gladys for blowing the wistle to many of us
Dr Lucas Siobanda
Hi lucas Sibanda
please feel free to highlight this at your elders meeting and to anyone you believe can influence a positive change not only for Zimbabweans but for all genuine assylum seekers in this country ,, Thank you sir
Mr Sibanda
Are you intouch with any of the senior members of ZAPU so tht they can give you my number or email for futher correspondence ??
Gladys
Everyone who has taken the time to read this God bless you all , this is just the beginning of change and i am excited ,, Please keep the fire of JUSTICE burning inside all of you and as they say what dont kill you makes you stronger ,, Because of Yarlswood i am now a fighter not only for myself but for every assylum seeker ,, will keep you all updated
Gladys
amen GOD answers prayer always
Hi valerie
God is faithful and he is the God of Justice
Dear Gladys,
Well done lady. I am currently in the same detention centre and experiencing the same things. Keep campaigning we all need your help from the outside. Keep well and good luck.
hi Natalie
I am free but my heart goes out to everyone still in detention ,,, Dont stop praying and believing ,,, See you on the outside !!
Hi there sweetie, Hop that this finds you well, I thought I would just let you know that I was finally released from Yarls wood on TA on the 6th June. Would love to meet up and find out what we can do to help those and ourselves from having to go through that again. I never want to go through being detained again.
Thanks,xx
Thank you Gladys for putting this in the limelight. I was in detention for nearly five months and have a terminal illness. I am prone to catch anything that comes my way and I can also pass on what I have to other people I share with. My condition does not entail me to stay in detention at all. My last roommate was coughing everyday and I ended up catching that. These people at Yarlwood are a joke and have no concern for detainees at all. They treat them worse than prisoners as you said. There are members of staff who talk on top of their voices like that man who works in Avocet unit and because he has been working there for eleven years he feels he can do whatever he can and takes the place like his own house. You find members of Serco staff gossiping about residents. The manager do not even know what is going on around them and walk about (that lady) in high heeled shoes so that people should know that she is the boss around that place.
The lady who had a problem with her leg was made to walk down the stairs until she fell down banging her head, pathetic. Before that, she had been ill and because no food can be taken to her room, she stayed for three solid days without food. What is wrong with giving food to a patient in her room when after eating it her roommate will take the plates back to the dining room? Health and safety my foot! People can cook and take food to their rooms without any problems so why should someone be left to starve for three solid days without a proper reason? I have so much to write and I am going to submit this as well so that the world should know what yarlwood is all about. It is hell and I would not wish even my worst enemy to go there. The rude heathcare staff, my gosh. It is as if they were forced into the profession. Instead of feeling better, you end up getting worse after visiting the so called healthcare.
My sister Violet
Thanks for backing me up on this matter i was interviewd at the Zim Vigil on saturday and the Journalist thought i was exagerating some of these issues ,,
I just remembered this old lady i think was from Sri lanka she was there with her husband could barely walk , couldnt understand a word of english and together with the husband had been issued removal directions ,, and it was by Gods grace that some ladies found her sitted on the corridor out of breath and took her to health care and proceeded to help her with a Judicial review ,, Only then were her flight direction stopped it was sad
Its things like this tht make me so mad and emotional about these detention centers !!
Please spread the gospel people need to stop being scared and speak the truth about detention .
Much love
Gladys
Violet
Dont get me started on the lack of professional conduct of the staff at Yarlswood ,, They dont know the meaning of patient or rather in our case resident or detainee confidentiality , they openly discuss detainees in front of other detainees ,,and i am sure you noticed that everything you do on their computers they monitor ,,,
NO PRIVACY IN YARLSWOOD !! ,, At the time of printing this article in Yarlswood the officer openly read the article without my permission and proceeded to tel me that She had the RIGHT to read an article that was strictly confidential and personal to me .Where are our Human Rights one wonders ??
Thanks for putting all this to light,Am currently in yarl’swood detention and is place is a death sentence.I have decide to go back home to my country before i die in here becauce of the poor food and healthcare.
I wish all you guys the best and dont stop the good work….poeple out there should know how bad is place this…HAND UP Gldays and continue the work of GOD…WE ARE ALL MISSING YOU IN CHURCH.
Hi Caroline
I dont bame you for giving up the Fight , Detention in Yarlswood or anywhere for that matter is a psychological and emotional torture ,, I hope things go well for you in your country ,,
Miss everyone in the church trust me
God bless
Gladys
Congrates to Gladys,
My sister all is well.
This is a very good newsletter, we are proud of you and we wish you all the best.God bless you. Amen
HI Mwazi
Thank you for taking the time to read this article , I really appreciate ,, Please get more people to read and share their comments
God bless
Gladys
For people who are nonsmokers, sorry to say but you will start passive smoking in yarls’wood. There is enough space under the door and because the smoking rooms are among the non-smoking ones, the smoke still gets into the rooms of non smokers. Nobody cares that other people are smoking passively, which is even more dangerous. It is because noone cares about the well-being of the detainees, whether they are non-smokers or not, it is alright to inhale this smoke. Nobody cares. Some of the detainees who smoke even leave their doors open while they are puffing away and the smoke infiltrates into the corridors. Not smokers will inhale this smoke whether they like it or not. The other thing is Yarls’wood is near the farms and the stench from there gets into the rooms and it is alright to inhale this very bad smell. They are detainees after all. The drainage system is another thing. The smell, whoops! You cannot imagine how it is to be inhaling this type of odour. It is so inhuman.
Hi valerie
God is faithful