NCADC Campaigning Toolkit
The procedure in each detention centre is different. You may not be able to rely on the staff there to give you helpful information about procedure and your rights, so it could be a good idea to contact a local visitor group (see below). If you feel your rights are not being respected, let someone know. You may want to tell a visitor group, your solicitor, a friend or supporter, or make a complaint to the detention centre or UKBA.
To find out more about your rights in detention, you could speak to your legal advisor or contact a group who work on legal issues and detention, such as Bail for Immigration Detainees (see below).
Visits Friends and family can visit you in detention. They will need to find out the visiting times, notify the centre in advance (they may need to give 24 hours’ notice) and bring ID with them. They can ring the detention centre to find out what form of ID they will need. They will have their photograph taken at the centre, and their fingerprints may be scanned as well. See the Home Office website for details of visiting each detention centre.
There are also befriending and visitor groups (co-ordinated groups of people, usually volunteers, who regularly visit immigration detainees to provide company and emotional support) set up for most detention centres and prisons. The Association of Visitors to Immigration Detainees (AVID) has a list of their members on its website.
AVID has also published a useful handbook for people wanting to visit someone in immigration detainees, which explains how visitsing someone works and what to expect. You can contact AVID for a copy of this handbook.
TESTIMONY
A young Afghan man has kept a blog – Life After Deportation – about his experiences in detention and facing deportation from the UK. He and his supporter wrote this great blog post about visiting a detainee:
Visiting a detainee in Harmondsworth
You know I am out of detention at the moment, but I will tell you about having visitors when I was there because I want people to know about this.
Of course having visitor is good and helpful mentally for us. We are here for a long time and even sometimes I think I forget how it is speaking with people or my friends and when I visit my friends I can feel that I change when they are with me. Normally when a visitor arrives, the officers call us, but when we don’t pick up our phone they would call our room. Sometimes they come to my room to pick me up.
Sometimes they search us to try to find any stuff with us, but normally they take our phone and sometime they don’t let you take any documents to your visitor. Some people don’t have any visitors and they always spend time with other detainees in the detention centre. Some people were moved here from other parts of the country, like Birmingham, so they are far from their family and friends. When I have a visitor I feel so happy because we talk about something new, but here we just always talk with each other about our problems in the detention centre, so that’s why it’s good to have a visitor.
Laura: The first time you come to Harmondsworth, you have to bring 2 forms of ID. Then they put you on the system and log your fingerprint. You get a wristband and visitor pass and they frisk you to make sure you’re not bringing anything in. There are a lot of things you can’t bring in, but even if you can bring it in, you have to check it in, rather than give it straight to your friend. You can’t bring food or drink, and I couldn’t even take T his class photo because it had him in the picture.
You have to go through 3 secure doors to get to the visitors’ room. Then they log your visit and go and find the detainee. I have waited up to 40 minutes sometimes for them to find and bring him! There is a vending machine in the room, but detainees don’t have cash, so if you visit someone, make sure you bring £1 coins. There’s also a TV and a play area for kids.
The first time I went, I was really upset afterwards, because the place is so much like a prison. But at least you can sit with your friend and stay as long as you like (between 2pm – 9pm.) The officers leave you alone, but they do watch you on the CCTV cameras. Sometimes it gets really busy. This Sunday I went, and at 6pm when I left, there were about 20 people queueing to be checked in. posted on 15 June 2012
It can be difficult to keep in touch with people in detention. At some centres, such as Morton Hall, the mobile phone signal is very poor. Most detention centres will have landlines that detainees can use. For the centres where detention centre mobile phone and sim cards are being given in replacement for a detainee’s own phone, the cost of calling out can be very expensive. If you are supporting someone in detention, remember that many phone networks charge to pick up voicemail messages. If you don’t get through to the person in detention, it’s better to send a text message which they can read for free. Internet access can also be limited in detention – certain sites such as Facebook are blocked.
At every detention centre there will be one or more chaplains (religious ministers) who can provide support in many different ways. There are usually several chaplains from different faiths who work in rotation. Chaplains can provide religious support, emotional support, or help in practical ways too. The place of worship where the chaplain is based may provide a quiet place for reflection or prayer.
There are usually prayer groups in detention centres (often organised by detainees), which some detainees find very comforting.
Emotional support is very important for people who are detained, as it is a very isolating and distressing experience. See section on ‘Emotional Support’.
If you are in detention, you may want to think about a public campaign calling for your release. This may involve community campaigning, using the media, internet campaigning, or political campaigning. For more information on these areas, go to the Toolkit sections under these headings. Think about whether you want a public campaign, or a smaller private campaign.
There will also be legal routes available to you, which are explained below.
In England, free legal advice for asylum cases is provided only by two or three contracted legal firms at each centre. Although it is not always completely up-to-date, a list of these firms can be found on the Ministry of Justice website.
There is no longer free legal advice (funded by the state) for immigration matters that are not asylum, apart from cases involving domestic violence or trafficking.
These firms have legal surgeries which you can sign up for if you are in detention. The rotas for these surgeries get booked up very far in advance, and the quality of legal advice is variable.
If you experience problems signing up with the rota, or with the legal advice you receive, you can make a complaint to the solicitor firm and to the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner.
Nearly all deportations take place from London airports. If you apply for asylum or other immigration status and live in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, and then you are detained there, you will very likely be moved to a detention centre in England prior to deportation. This makes it very difficult for your Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish legal representatives to continue to advise you. This is also a problem if you live in England and you are moved to a detention centre a long way from where your English legal representatives’ office is located. If you claimed asylum or applied for other immigration status and lived in Scotland or Northern Ireland, there is the additional problem of restricted legal aid in England if you are moved to a detention centre there.
In theory, if a lawyer has already starting working on an aspect of your case (for example, further submissions), they can continue to work on it even if you are moved across to England/far away in England. If they cannot visit you in detention, however, working effectively on the case is very difficult. This disruption in legal representation is a big problem, particularly in time-pressured areas of a case, such as applying for an injunction to stop deportation.
Similarly, while only certain firms have contracts to take on new cases in detention (see above), if you are already being represented by a firm and they are in the middle of working on an aspect of your case, they can continue. This, again, may be difficult because of not being able to meet with you.
If you are unable to get legal advice from one of the contracted firms in immigration detention, you could think about these alternatives:
pro bono legal advice. Some legal advisors can provide legal advice on a voluntary basis. They will not be charging the LSC for this work, so they do not need to work for one of the LSC contracted firms. Cuts to legal aid and the closure of firms means legal advisors are increasingly overstretched, so while the need for pro bono advice is going to increase, the capacity of legal advisors to provide it may decrease.
Support that does not involve giving legal advice. A supporter may be able to help explain your legal documents (for example, explaining what certain words mean), or help you look for evidence, without giving legal advice. This could be done over the telephone, but is better done in person.
Fundraise for a private solicitor (see Understanding Your Legal Case)
You may be able to get assistance from a project that aims to help people who cannot find a lawyer. People who work for such projects are often called ‘McKenzie friends’ and are usually volunteers supervised by immigration specialists. They are not usually able to represent you but can assist you in gathering evidence to support your case, preparing witness statements and/or written legal arguments.
