Protest held over centre for detention of women immigrants
CAMPAIGNERS gathered in the centre of Consett to voice their opposition to a newly opened women-only immigration detention centre.
Earlier this year the Home Office revealed plans to turn the former Hassockfield Detention Centre into a Category 3-style prison to detain around 80 people who have had applications for UK residency denied.
Hassockfield closed in 2014 and was the site of the former Medomsley Detention Centre – a youth facility where brutal physical and sexual abuse of youngsters took place in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Government has said the new County Durham site will hold “foreign national offenders” and “immigration offenders” awaiting deportation and removal from the UK .
n NovemberO 23, Home Secretary Priti Patel announced the opening of the centre as a replacement for the one in Yarl’s Wood, Bedfordshire, despite widespread opposition to the plans.
Protesters have continued their campaign despite the Home Secretary’s announcement, and around 150 people descended on Consett on Saturday for the latest demonstration. The event was called by Durham People’s Assembly and supported by No to Hassockfield, Abolish Detention: Hassockfield and Women for Refugee Women.
Rebecca from Abolish Detention said: “It was well attended and we also managed to have some good engagement with members of the public.
“We had some very powerful speakers who were able to talk about the reality of detention is like, which was very moving.
“We don’t believe anyone should be detained, especially people coming to the UK seeking sanctuary from often very difficult and traumatic situations.”
Campaigners understand that a first group of around 20 women will be transferred to Hassockfield in the first weeks of December, and the centre will reach its full capacity within months.
Emma said: “The slogan of this demonstration is ‘Sanctuary, not detention’.
“We believe those seeking safety in this country deserve sanctuary, love, friendship, and protection and do not deserve to be criminalised, dehumanised and locked up, only worsening vulnerability. Immigration detention is cruel, inhumane and unnecessary.”
The Government has insisted it is “committed to ensuring the proper protection and treatment of vulnerable people in detention”. But those who oppose the plans say people who’ve been detained in similar centres report facing “trauma” inside.
Agnes Tanoh from Women for Refugee Women, who has been detained in Yarl’s Wood, said in a speech for the No to Hassockfield campaign: “Detention destroys a woman, destroys our mental health, destroys our hope.”
In a written ministerial statement to Parliament announcing the decision, Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “Detention plays a limited, but crucial role in maintaining effective immigration control and securing our borders.
“It is right that those with no right to remain in the UK are removed if they do not leave voluntarily.
“This new, smaller immigration removal centre will replace Yarl’s Wood as the only dedicated immigration removal centre for women.
“In order to maintain operational flexibility, we will continue to maintain some limited detention capacity for women at Colnbrook, Dungavel and Yarl’s Wood.
“These changes will significantly reduce the overall immigration detention capacity for women.”
Yarl’s Wood has faced huge criticism since it opened 20 years ago with reports of those held there complaining of experiencing suicidal ideation and trauma as they face indefinite detention periods inside.