| Events |
Read more about upcoming events on the
Events page.
Demonstration at Harmondsworth and Colnbrook
2006-04-08 -
London
Scotland International Day of Action
2006-04-08 -
Glasgow
Communications House Demonstration
2006-04-10 -
London
Demonstration and March in Manchester
2006-04-15 -
Manchester
Demonstration at Campsfield House
2006-04-29 -
Oxford
Convergence on Villawood Detention Centre
2006-04-14 -
Australia
Solidarity Vigil at Perth Detention Centre
2006-04-?? -
Australia
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Campsfield House is hell fire on Earth.
REMOVAL TO CAMPSFIELD - TRYING TO GET BAIL
I come from Nigeria. I have spent many months in Nigeria being persecuted and afraid for my life, after my livelihood was destroyed. I decided to leave Nigeria to save my life. I arrived in the UK in 2001 and in 2002 I am still been locked up in prison. What a life!
I am an asylum seeker detainee at Campsfield House; I was arrested at the airport. I claimed asylum on arrival but was detained at the airport from 9.15am until 1.30am in the morning of the following day. We arrived at Oakington in the very early morning. There at Oakington I spent eight days. It was there I had my asylum interview. Three days later I had the negative decision. I was immediately transferred to Campsfield House in Oxford. Since then I have been living my life in prison.
Since my detention, I have made several attempts to secure bail, but it was all refused. My first bail application was ten weeks after I was locked up in Campsfield. The adjudicator granted me bail on principle and instructed my sureties to go and lodge the sum of £1500 into the solicitor's account and reappear with a fresh bail application one week later. My sureties did their best by raising the money and had all the bail requirements.
Unfortunately, when we reappeared as instructed at the same Birmingham Court, we met a different adjudicator who after cross examining my sureties, refused me bail because she said the amount lodged was too small as to guarantee my bail. She raised the money to £5,000, which demoralised my first surety and she backed out. Hence, I could not afford the £5,000 surety money. I decided to consult Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID) who applied bail for me a month later at York House London. At York House I went with two European citizens as my sureties with the sum of £1,200 including a Catholic reverend father who came and refereed for me. After the bail hearing, the adjudicator refused to grant me bail based on my nationality because I am a Nigerian. He wanted more money from my sureties. After another month, the same (BID) went back to court in York House for another bail hearing. That was the day we were given the highest humiliation in my life. In the presence of the three sureties that went to court with me and the £1,500 as surety money, the adjudicator did not allow Mr Tim Baster, who was my legal representative, time even to open up his case file before he dismissed my case and said that bail was refused. We were all amazed. What a miscarriage of justice!?
LIFE IN CAMPSFIELD HOUSE
In Campsfield House, life has not been very easy. There are three sections in the centre, Namely the blue, pink, and yellow blocks. There are also separate sections for administration and for the Immigration Officers whose duty is to carry out our removal orders.
Breakfast is from 7.30 -9.30am, lunch from 12noon - 1.30pm and dinner from 5-6.30pm. The food they serve is what the authority approved for the day. It is not what you might like to eat that particular day. Sometimes, they serve detainees rice without stew and if you complain, Group 4 will tell you, "that is why you left your country. If you don't like the treatment why not sign and go back to your country?" The food contributes 80% of the poor health condition of the detainees. Some always vomit after food. We are not allowed to take any food to our room. Even if you are sick and you cannot walk down to the canteen you cannot do this. If you request such a privilege, Group 4 will tell you that you are in a detention centre, where you have no rights, and no freedom.
FACILITIES
There is one library with two computers for typing only and four computer ball games. The library opens 9am-12.30pm, and re-opens 1.30pm - 11.30 pm daily. We have three television rooms which is highly restricted from broadcasting news. Only TV5 is allowed which gives news in brief. The other TVs remain permanently on sports, and MTV for music. There is one table tennis court, a room for physical health training, and a little pitch for football, which doesn't operate every day. There's also a hall for volleyball and cricket.
SANITATION
There are about five cleaning staff for the whole centre. They are here to be presented to visitors. How they clean the surroundings, ranging from the kitchen to the toilets is better seen than imagined. They only clean the entrance and passages. The toilets and bathrooms are left to the detriment of the detainees. Hence Group 4 and visiting staff have their own separate facilities. Most of the detainees contact diseases through the toilets because they are being used by every detainee, and no disinfectant is used in washing and cleaning them. Sometimes the passage stinks. You can always perceive the odour while passing through.
MEDICAL
There is no long-term medical treatment as far as Campsfield House is concerned. But there is a health unit - which cannot be called an ordinary clinic because no useful consultation occurs there. Every ill-health matter is treated with stress tablets that knock you down. I was given a tablet that forced me to sleep for two days without ceasing. Weekends, there is no doctor available. Group 4 handles any emergency during the weekend. Detainees are not allowed to sleep in the hospital no matter how serious the problem is, the paramedics must return you back before day break.
Detainees with diseases like epilepsy, tuberculosis, asthma, chicken pox are mixed up with other healthy detainees. If you complain, the nurses will tell you it's immigration's fault, and immigration will tell you it is Group 4. Group 4 will refer you to the medical unit. At the end of the day nobody says they are responsible for detainees' health. There is one test case now - of chicken pox at Campsfield House. During the outbreak of this disease, the Chinese doctor who was on relief duty recommended the immediate release of the affected detainees and immigration accepted it. Unfortunately the doctor in charge of the health clinic resumed duty. He had been on leave. He cancelled the release of the rest of the affected detainees. Now all of us are sleeping in the same building making use of the same toilet and bathrooms that lead to further spreading of the disease.
In summary in Campsfield House detainees are not regarded to be human beings. It is only God that saves life here. Otherwise, there is gross negligence of the lives of detainees. Human Rights are being highly abused. Fighting in the centre, fire alarm, fainting of a detainee, missing property, which should all be matters for the civil police are all being handled by Group 4. A detainee has no right to call the police even if there are civil disturbances or riots in the centre. Important visitors are not allowed to see and talk with the detainees. There was a day a Minister from the Home Office came. He was not allowed to see the detainees. He only had a chat with the manager of the centre and Group 4 officials and he left.
It is called a detention centre but it is a complete prison, mere looking at the security net work shows you this. You will not be told that it is a prison yard, but it is. After the barbed wire, there is another high metal wall that is guarded all round with razor wire on top, to fortify the security even further. Last month in an attempt to escape four Kosovan boys broke their spines because they jumped from the roof to the ground. Several suicide attempts have been made, and many individual hunger strikes. A Russian went on hunger strike for 22 days and yet the doctor at Campsfield House medical unit recommended that he is still fit for detention.
A psychiatric patient (detainee) confirmed that he is suffering from panic attacks was deported with the sickness back to Zimbabwe. Confirmed and certified by three different doctors, yet immigration deported him with the sickness, Group 4 kept him in an isolation room before he was removed - to stop him from committing suicide.
Campsfield House is hell fire on Earth.
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Read more |
Escape?
2003-01-26 -
A prisoner in HMP Bullingdon writes.
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Campsfield House is hell fire on Earth.
2003-01-26 -
The account that follows is from someone who was forced to flee from Nigeria. He is certain that if he returned his life would be in extreme danger. If he were to succeed in his request for asylum, he would enrich the UK with his many working skills. All he is asking for is a chance to work and get on with his life, while coming to terms with the trauma he has experienced. This trauma has been intensified by experience in detention.
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...something needs to be done...
2003-01-26 -
The following account was given at a conference to end detention in Europe, in September 2000 in Oxford. HK is a Ugandan refugee, who spent 17 months in Harmondsworth and Tinsley House. He is still waiting for refugee status.
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Appeal for Urgent Intervention
2003-01-29 -
Gabriel Nkwelle had been held in detention in six institutions in England since 2001. The accounts that follow are excerpts from his letters from Rochester, Haslar and Belmarsh. The full letters can be found on the website for the Close Campsfield Campaign at http://www.closecampsfield.org.uk. He has finally been granted refugee status.
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"I can't go back to my country and I'm asking for political asylum"
2003-01-29 -
This account describes arrival in the UK, experiences of the immigration service and detention in Campsfield. It comes from a man from a European country who, after two years of being subjected to immigration bail restrictions, has finally won his case on appeal. He has been recognised as a refugee under the 1931 Geneva Convention. Since his arrival in the UK he has helped numerous other asylum seekers including detainees.
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Campsfield Monitor 1998
2003-01-29 -
Highlights from the Campsfield Monitor 1998. Conditions are shown to be deteriorating.
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I have been five months in detention. I have had no antenatal care.
2003-01-29 -
This short piece is the only one from a woman who has been detained.
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...when you are in the minority yours will be a test of courage.
2003-01-29 -
A speech given at the Conference to Defend Asylum Seekers, held at Cross Street Chapel, Manchester, Saturday March 23rd 2002.
Read more
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