Look Within

Several years ago, when but a junior official, I put in an application for a promotion. The curiously titled post of 'Presenting Officer' was a rare opportunity to climb a small rung of the civil service ladder. The job entailed appearing in court as the Home Office rep who would counter the appeal proceedings brought by 'illegals' who were facing deportation. The benefits of additional income when belts were already tight did not, in the end, outweigh my political objections to the immigration system. Eventually I failed the interview deliberately and happily in an almost Pythonesque manner.

David Wood, current strategic Director for Criminality and Detention at UK Border Agency has no such qualms. His press statement during the ongoing hunger strike of women at Yarl's Wood (pictured) was a lesson in obfuscation and shameless dissembling. He claimed the protest was, "resolved" on 9 February when women are still denying food in protest at the obscene amount of time they have been held.

In essence, Wood was only referring to the arrest and imprisonment of four women deemed 'ringleaders'. Wood said the the UKBA "aim to keep detention to a minimum". But Home Office figures obtained by the Independent show 225 people have been held for more than 12 months and 45 for at least two years.

Here's a taste of life in Yarl's Wood which, despite appearances, it must be stressed it is not a prison.
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/domestic_politics/inside+yarlaposs+wood+detention+centre/3267842

Wood chose his words so carefully when he said the detainess had access to legal advice and healthcare facilities. During the initial lockdown last week several women were caught in cold communal areas without access to food, water warm clothing or even a loo. It may be hard to convince those into their third week of hunger strike that they are being treated with "dignity and respect".

An Iranian family released after 51 days in Yarls' spoke of how traumatised their children were. Despite the manifold levels of safeguarding in schools and wider society to protect children, the Home Office deem it acceptable to lock up their children aged 6 and 18 months for nearly two months.

One of the sparks of the women's protest was the treatment of children by UKBA - 2,000 are held for various periods of detention every year. The Agency seems to have arrived at the welcome conclusion children should not be incarcerated - however their solution is to now separate parents from their little ones.

In times of economic hardship it is not difficult to find staff to implement these brutal regulations, indeed some staff seem to thrive on humiliating and intimidating vulnerable asylum seekers. Louise Perrett worked briefly for UKBA and catalogued routine racism and mocking of 'inmates'. She mentioned a stuffed monkey was "placed as a badge of shame on the desk of any officer who approved an asylum application." A Congolese family were granted the 'right to remain' but a senior manager unilatarily overruled the judgement and ordered their deportion.

She told the Guardian she witnessed, "hostility" which was "horrific" and said, "major changes are needed at senior management level". This last comment will ensure the establishment draws in and acts very defensively, dismissing the unsubstantiated claims of a disgruntled civil servant.

Disgruntled she maybe but at least she has her conscience and had the courage to expose this systematic and cruel treatment of the hopeless by our Government's officials.