The Home Office’s Hotel California: Inside the Panic House

Thousands of people are being locked up every year in detention centres across the country, for an indefinite period of time. People who have been in the UK for many, many years find themselves detained and deported after serving time in prison, essentially serving their time twice.

On the day of a deportation flight to Jamaica, Praxis service users write about the injustice of detention, and why it should stop.

“I’ve been detained 3 times for 10 weeks all together. Those 10 weeks I spent in an immigration detention centre was much, much worse than the time I served in prison. The prison system treated us much better than the detention centre did. With prison, from the moment you get your sentence, you know when you’re getting out. With detention, you never know when you’re getting out. That alone, that mentality- everyone there is experiencing so much stress and depression in detention, because they don’t know how long they are going to be inside and they don’t know if they are going to be deported. They are out of control of their lives. Something else was in control of us.

“I’m the one who takes my youngest kids to school. When I was detained for the first time I thought they would understand that my kids needed me around and would grant me bail. I had letters from social workers, doctors, the head teacher of my children’s school. I showed the Home Office why deporting me would be unfair on my young children. They came back to me 12 hours later and told me it’s also unfair on the citizens of this country for me not to be deported. I felt crazy after hearing that. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. After that, they were planning on deporting me on the Tuesday and so my kids came to see me on the Saturday. When a dad knows they are going to be deported, they rush for the family to visit them. Families are torn apart in that visitor room. It’s not a nice scene. There were so many families there, that Saturday it was like a creche, all crying, saying goodbye to their fathers. I had one of my sons clinging on to each leg, crying for them not to send me away. My daughter threw herself onto the floor. The staff there, the guards, they saw it all. My son still says to me years later, ‘please don’t go back to that place, dad.’

The government says that they care about the welfare of children. But they don’t care about our kids. If you genuinely mean that children’s welfare comes first, why break apart families by deporting fathers? They told me that the relationship I have with my children is not genuine. I really cried when I heard that. I even delivered one of my sons”

“You have served your time, you have reformed yourself, but you will never be seen as anything other than a risk to society by the Home Office. ”

People look out for each other in detention, regardless of race and creed. We see ourselves as having a common enemy- the Home Office. Detainees help each other, help deal with the paperwork for those who don’t have solicitors. This shouldn’t be the case - this is why legal aid exists. Some of us have seen people in detention save the lives of others who couldn’t take it anymore and tried to take their own life. There’s a reason why they ban smart phones from detention - they are terrified of anyone on the outside seeing what really happens in there.

People born in the UK can be rehabilitated after committing a crime. But for people born outside of the UK, the government seems to believe it’s impossible for them to reform themselves. You have served your time, you have reformed yourself, but you will never be seen as anything other than a risk to society by the Home Office. The system should assess anyone they deem is a risk, instead of deciding that every foreign national offender is.

“If British born is human, then tell us, what species is foreign born?”

In prison, ‘D cat’ is when you get the chance to be rehabilitated and reintegrated into the community. Foreign Nationals cannot be D-catted. They say you are at risk of running away. No one can tell us that it’s only British-born people that can be reformed. If that’s the case, if British born is human, then tell us, what species is foreign born?

Until a few days ago, the Home Office was planning to deport a young autistic man called Osime Brown to Jamaica. He was convicted of stealing a phone when he was a teenager, which, according to the Home Office, makes him a threat to UK society. His mum is in the UK, he has no one in Jamaica-he hasn’t been there since he was 4 years old. This is pure racism. Anyone can see, the system has failed this young person. After paying your dues, why are you being deported? If they want to deport you, why bother putting you in prison?

Many people who are detained are seeking asylum and yet still treated like criminals. People are kept in detention centres without being told why, and for those who don’t speak much English or who are newly arrived, this can be even more traumatising. Some don’t have access to solicitors, some even have their asylum interview in detention without legal representation, without knowing or understanding what’s happening.

“I am a young woman who has been detained in the UK more than once. My experience has left me with scars that I don’t believe will be wiped off. Over a year after my last passage in that place I am still facing difficulties sleeping. Sometimes I am woken up by nightmares relating to that place. On top of this, when you are asked to report at an immigration centre, the feeling of being detained again is always invading your body. This is a very traumatic situation - with detention, you know when you get in but not when you can get out”

“You leave your country, you suffer trafficking, you take the risks, you come here and they detain you. ”

The Government says that immigration is bad for the economy. Yet last year it spent £92 million detaining people. The British government also gives money to countries for receiving their nationals - the Jamaican government received £20,000 for each person that gets deported back to Jamaica.

In the midst of the COVID19 pandemic the Home Office refuse to give people their right to an asylum interview yet are happy to continue detaining and deporting people. The system is flawed, it is broken, it is hypocritical and it is here to break people. They do it to frustrate you. To make you give up.

We need fair treatment. All of this has to stop. You leave your country, you suffer trafficking, you take the risks, you come here and they detain you. Why? They must close all the detention centres.

Help us end this broken system. Find out more about how you can get involved with Movement for Justice’s campaigning on detention and deportation.