Day 23 - Shine a light on detention

Staycey, a lesbian woman who was detained in Yarl’s Wood

In the UK, people going through our asylum or immigration system can be locked up in immigration detention. Held indefinitely in prison-like conditions, they are isolated from their support networks and have no idea when they might be set free.

The UK is the only country in Europe with no statutory time limit on the amount of time someone can be detained, and the uncertainty this creates is devastating. Self-harm and suicide attempts are an almost daily occurrence in the centres where people are held, and the impact on their mental health can last a lifetime.

It is shameful that this happens to tens of thousands of people every year in the UK, but so often it is brushed aside or overlooked.

This year saw the first ever public inquiry into the UK’s detention system, focusing on conditions at Brook House detention centre. Shockingly, the inquiry found that in just a 5 month period there were 19 incidents of inhuman and degrading treatment of people detained there. The inquiry also concluded that the centre had a completely dysfunctional safeguarding system, and that staff often used excessive and inappropriate force as well as subjecting the people held there to racist and abusive language.

As the chair of the inquiry noted, the way that our system of detention is run means that those suffering within it are just “out of sight, out of mind”.

For LGBTQI+ people, detention can be an even more dangerous place. They face bullying, harassment and abuse from staff and others inside. Many are forced back into the closet. And for those who have fled persecution trying to find safety here, the frightening conditions in detention can cause them to relive their trauma.

In the Brook House inquiry, it was found that staff had verbally abused and humiliated a gay man in front of others, leading to him being bullied by other people who were detained in the centre.

For day 23, help us make sure that LGBTQI+ people being detained in the UK aren’t just out of sight and out of mind. Watch this video to hear first-hand from two lesbian women what being detained was like for them. Please share the video with your friends as well.