Every year for the past three years, Right to Remain has helped to run an innovative and participatory social media project that raises awareness of immigration detention in the UK ā itās called Unlocking Detention (http://unlocked.org.uk/) (or āUnlockedā for short).
Unlocking Detention is a āvirtual tourā of the UKās immigration detention estate ā and of the impact of detention on communities across the UK.Ā Each week, we āvisitā another of the UKās detention centres and we hear from people who have been detained there (and who still are), volunteer visitors to that centre, NGOs and campaigners who are involved with challenging immigration detention, and the families, friends, neighbours and communities over whom detention casts its long shadows.Ā The tour runs from 10 October to 18 December 2016.
The idea for Unlocking Detention came from the fact that many of the UKās detention centres are geographically very remote and that the injustice of immigration detention was being kept hidden away ā āout of sight, out of mindā.
People held in immigration detention are isolated and hard-to-reach. People may be held in a centre (in prison-like conditions) hundreds of miles from where they were living, and many miles from any city, with no public transport to get there to visit.Ā The system is operated to isolate people ā and detention as a policy issue is very remote from the minds of most members of the public and, until recently, from the minds of most of our elected representatives.
This means most people have no idea what immigration detention is, what itās like, who is it for and why itās such an outrage.Ā For such a grave human rights issue, detention has been a remarkably hidden topic ā over the last 20 years since the first detention centre opened, the detention estate has massively expanded and until relatively recently, with almost no public debate or political scrutiny.
Because of this lack of awareness, detention became accepted as a ānormalā, integral part of the system of immigration administration and enforcement.Ā Unlocking Detention seeks to change this ā through the voices of those at risk of detention, those living with the scars of previous detention, communities damaged by detention, and all those seeking to change it. Although Unlocking Detention uses a geographical tour as a starting point, the project goes beyond the location and operation of detention centres, shining a light on all aspects of detention, and its place in the system of immigration control.
You donāt have to be an expert on detention, or directly impacted by detention, to be involved.Ā If you are interested in, concerned by or have questions about immigration detention, join the conversation!
** How you can get involved
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Read the Unlocking Detention blog posts.Ā Every week of the tour, there will be new pieces to read from diverse authors, on many different topics.Ā Weāll have some great pieces out during the tour, but for now you can catch up on the amazing range of blog posts weāve shared over the last two years.
Read Unlocked blog posts (http://unlocked.org.uk/blog/)
Be part of Unlocking Detention on Twitter.Ā The hashtag for the tour is #Unlocked16 and you can follow the Detention Forum on Twitter (https://twitter.com/DetentionForum) @DetentionForum for tweets everyday about the centre that is the focus of the week, and detention in general (donāt forget to follow Right to Remain (https://twitter.com/Right_to_Remain) @Right_to_Remain as well as weāll be tweeting along during the tour!).Ā If you are on Twitter, be part of the conversation by tweeting with #Unlocked16 ā¦ but if youāre not on Twitter, donāt worry! Youāll be able to find all of the tweets and retweets from Detention Forum on the Unlocking Detention website (http://unlocked.org.uk/) .
Follow Unlocking Detention on Facebook.Ā This year, weāll be sharing blog posts, articles, videos and images on Facebook so make sure you like the Unlocking Detention page to see whatās happening!
Like Unlocking Detention on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/unlockingdetention/)
Weāre even on Instagram this year! Follow Unlocking Detention @unlockingdetention on Instagram to see the visual story of Unlocking Detention.
** Another 100 beds at Gatwick detention site: expansion by stealth?
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Despite being signed up to a reform agenda that involves reducing immigration detention, this summer the government has quietly expanded bed spaces at Brook House and Tinsley House detention centres, near Gatwick Airport.
You may have heard about the closure of Cedars “pre-departure accommodation” (a detention centre for families with children), which will mean that families with children facing removal will now be detained at Tinsley House.Ā The number of those families will be very small, so these new bed spaces can’t be accounted for by this change alone.Ā Instead, it seems that the government has reversed its direction of travel on detention reform for the moment.
As this statement from the Detention Forum points out, opening a new detention centre would likely have caused a public outcry.Ā This expansion of detention capacity is instead “expansion by stealth”.
Read the statement (http://detentionforum.org.uk/another-100-beds-at-gatwick-site-expansion-by-stealth/)
Brook House and Tinsley House are relatively unknown detention centres, despite being sites of grave injustice.Ā Unlocking Detention seeks to shine a spotlight on these hidden centres.
We have some very powerful blog posts about these detention centres from Unlocking Detention 2014 and 2015, including by people who have been detained there for many months.
Read about Brook House (http://unlocked.org.uk/blog/category/brook-house/)
Read about Tinsley House (http://unlocked.org.uk/blog/category/tinsley-house/)