During week 8, the final full week of Unlocking Detention 2018, we visited Dungavel IRC, in Scotland. Dungavel is very isolated: more than 30 miles from Glasgow, 14 miles from the nearest train station, 6 miles from the closest town (Strathaven) and no local bus route. It was originally a 19th century hunting lodge and summer retreat for the Duke of [...]
Content warning: torture This blog comes from Beatrice Grasso, Detention Outreach Manager with JRS UK, who recently published a report on the indefinite detention of trafficking survivors. While JRS’s research draws on case studies from Harmondsworth and Colnbrook immigration removal centres (IRCs), this issue affects people detained across the UK. The campaign #DucMakesGlasgow highlighted the plight of Duc, a trafficking survivor [...]
This blog comes from Kate Alexander, Director of Scottish Detainee Visitors, who support people detained in Dungavel immigration removal centre (IRC) and tweet at @SDVisitors The latest inspection report on Dungavel IRC, published on 16 November, makes interesting reading. Dungavel usually receives positive reports from inspectors, in stark contrast to other detention centres and this one follows that pattern to a [...]
Content warning: torture This contribution comes from the Life After Detention group (LAD) based in Glasgow and facilitated by Scottish Detainee Visitors. Between them, members of LAD have lost 4 years and 8 months of their lives to detention. The first part, ‘Because of Detention’, reflects on the ongoing devastation caused by indefinite detention. The second, 'In spite of detention', highlights [...]
In the ninth and final visit of #Unlocked17, the focus was on Dungavel, Scotland's only detention centre.
The harm caused by detention does not end once a person is released. For many, the trauma of detention, and the struggles with uncertainty, continue. This is the subject of 'Life After Detention', a new film made in collaboration with the Life After Detention group from Scottish Detainee Visitors. The group filmed aspects of their life in Glasgow on their mobile phones [...]
Jawad Anjum and Steve Rolfe are activists with Global Justice Glasgow, a group of committed people who campaign to tackle the root causes of global poverty and injustice as part of Global Justice Now, a democratic movement in the UK which campaigns in solidarity with people in the global South. They write for Unlocking Detention about a lively campaign that is [...]
This week, #Unlocked17 is visiting Dungavel, Scotland's only detention centre. In this blog, Kate Alexander, Director of Scottish Detainee Visitors (SDV), reflects on another year of visiting Dungavel, and takes us on the journey that visitors make twice a week. Visitors also prepare a report after every visit, which Kate reviews. Here, she highlights the patterns she sees in these reports: of [...]
This was the final week that Unlocking Detention 2016 visited a specific detention centre, ahead of the round-up final week next week. And the final visit went to Dungavel, Scotland's only detention centre, and the subject of lots of news and campaign activity recently. https://twitter.com/DetentionForum/status/806777841262018560 https://twitter.com/SDVisitors/status/805703510801010688 https://twitter.com/DetentionForum/status/807878845416280066 https://twitter.com/DetentionForum/status/805693948073123840 https://twitter.com/DetentionForum/status/807558232466145284 https://twitter.com/DetentionForum/status/805769445486444544 https://twitter.com/DetentionForum/status/807550681150328832 https://twitter.com/DetentionForum/status/806831194184761344 https://twitter.com/SDVisitors/status/805716092643479552 https://twitter.com/SDVisitors/status/805709552117252096 https://twitter.com/SDVisitors/status/805708543961792512 https://twitter.com/SDVisitors/status/806864662859956224 https://twitter.com/SDVisitors/status/806862146566881280 https://twitter.com/EiriOhtani/status/806825844660465666 As part of [...]
This week Unlocking Detention has been ‘visiting’ Dungavel detention centre, the only detention in Scotland and a site of much contention after the government announced plans earlier this year to close it and open a Short-Term Holding Facility in Glasgow - you can read Scottish Detainee Visitors' analysis of the situation as it stands, here. On Friday afternoon, Ben from Detention [...]