Message Headingin bottle light plea: ‘Help us, this feels like a prison’
MIGRANTS being held in the Manston processing centre used a message in a bottle to beg for help as they described it as a “prison”.
A young girl ran towards the perimeter fence of the Kent facility yesterday afternoon and threw a bottle containing a letter to a news agency photographer.
It claimed there were pregnant women and sick detainees at the site.
It comes as it was revealed that the Home Office faces a judicial review of the treatment of people detained at the disused airfield near Ramsgate.
Overcrowding
Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, said legal action has begun after reports of severe overcrowding.
He told The Take with Sophy Ridge programme: “I believe we have received the initial contact for a judicial review.That’s not unusual, this is a highly litigious area of policy but of course, as the minister responsible, I want to make sure everything we do is conducted appropriately and within the law.”
Hundreds of people are believed to have been moved out of the processing centre this week amid overcrowding concerns.The letter in a bottle, written in broken English and addressed to “journalists, organisations, everyone” appeared to suggest 50 families had been held at Manston for more than 30 days.
It said: “We are in a difficult life now...we fill like we’re in prison [sic].
“Some of us very sick...ther’s some women’s that are pregnant they don’t do anything for them [sic] ... “We really need your help. Please help us.”
The letter claimed there is a disabled child there, adding: “He’s really bad, they don’t even care about him.” And it went on: “It’s not easy for someone who has children.
“There’s a lot of children they shouldn’t be here.They should be in a school not prison.”
The letter also said: “Our food is very bad like its make us fill sick ... we got no phone no money.”
The young girl was among a group of children who broke past security guards to run over to the fence to throw the bottle.
The situation at Manston has been branded a “breach of humane conditions” – with 4,000 people being held there as opposed to its capacity of 1,600.