Statement from Bail for Immigration Detainees on the Panorama: Undercover: Britain’s Immigration Secrets
The horrific and upsetting footage secretly recorded at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre should result in the immediate closure of all detention centres in the UK and an end to the use of immigration detention, says the charity Bail for Immigration Detainees.
To deprive an individual of their liberty for the purposes of immigration control is unacceptable when other, more humane methods exist.
“This is not the first time that undercover footage has exposed the horrors of detention. It is shocking, but not surprising to witness the abuse of people held in the centre, but the casual and routine brutality exposed in last night’s programme was appalling” said BID’s Director Celia Clarke. “For years we, along with others, have called for wholesale reforms to the system, including the end to the detention of children, pregnant women and the mentally-ill. Despite commitments to reform from the Home Office, the only change in practice has been a worsening of conditions for people unfortunate enough to be held under lock and key under immigration powers in the UK, whether that be in prison or in a detention centre.”
More than half those detained are released back into the community, meaning that their detention has served no purpose. It is long overdue for the government to think again and to end this cruel and inhumane system of immigration detention.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b094mhsn/panorama-undercover-britains-immigration-secrets
