North East Immigration Detention Centre to open despite channel deaths and protests

Controversial plans to open Derwentside (formally Hassockfield) Immigration Detention Centre have been pushed back against, with protesters calling for an end to detention nationwide.

Due to open on the 29 November and begin intaking detainees from the 10 December, there was a sense of urgency amongst the latest protest on Saturday 20 November against Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre (IRC).

These protests were begun by 'Durham People's Assembly' and 'No to Hassockfield', with crucial work from the groups ‘North East Against Racism (NEAR)’, and ‘Women for Refugee Women’ in an effort to raise awareness and put pressure on the local government and MPs to oppose the plans.

‘No to Hassockfield’ have been campaigning for most of the year alongside the other activist groups and successfully manging to get the local council to oppose the plans.

13 miles from Durham, this centre will house up to 84 women that "have served a 12-month prison sentence, or who have broken immigration laws, or whose asylum claim has failed".

The Home Office claims that women held here will have “committed criminal offences”, at the protest a speaker reminded everyone that these "crimes are defined under overtly racist and discriminatory legislation” and should not be used to measure innocence.

Giving an interview after the protest, Yunus Bakhsh, of ‘NEAR’ made clear that detaining women here "won't change anything", and that it was "obscene and inhumane...when these women have done nothing wrong". Speaking to a member of ‘Abolish Detention’, their groups belief is that Derwentside represents a further ratcheting up of the government’s ‘Hostile Environment’.

Under this legislative umbrella, the rights and civil liberties of asylum seekers and refugees are being eroded by those in power. Dubbed as “inhumane” by the member of ‘Abolish Detention’, this IRC comes alongside the new Nationality and Borders Bill making its way through parliament, that seeks to make conditions even worse for the most vulnerable.

As well as protests, the new IRC has been opposed in a letter that was written in June to the Home Secretary, Priti Patel. Signed by 76 parliamentarians, this letter made clear their opposition to the proposal whilst requesting several assurances, including the provision of mental health support for those detained. The letter also brought in to question the Home Office’s position on reducing the numbers of people in the states IRCs; as per Stephen Shaw’s 2016 and 2018 report recommendations.

Local MP, Richard Holden was not one of these signatories. Quoted saying that the centre will provide “200 good jobs”, Holden went on to blast Durham County Council for “spreading scare stories” about detention, and believes that “Britain has been a soft touch for far too long”.

Reports prove that these concerns are not hyperbole. Management of Derwentside IRC has been outsourced to Mitie – the largest provider of “immigration removal centre management and operations” in the UK.

A prisons inspectorate report in 2016 described Mitie’s Harmondsworth IRC as being “dirty”, “rundown”, and “insanitary”. At the time, their managing director commented: “We were aware of most of [these issues] and have been working on an improvement programme since we commenced the service”.

Accusations levelled against Mitie’s during their tenure of IRCs do not reflect this pledge. Allegations include exploitation of those detained; mental and physical abuse by staff; and underpaying of staff themselves. Activists fear that the same will be true in the case of Hassockfield, stating that IRCs only serve to line the pockets of shareholders and retraumatise vulnerable people.

Durham University’s STAR (Student Action for Refugees), a student group working to improve the lives of refugees in the UK, echoed this sentiment: “as well as being harmful, immigration detention is often pointless”, with only 8% of detainees being deported from the country in 2019.

Yunus Bakhsh described Mitie's involvement as "nothing new under the sun", and that "the Tories have been fantastic at privatising misery...and profiting from it" for decades. Going on to say the issue here is that the firms are "unaccountable" to the public, allowing them to get away with anything.

In the wake of the Paterson Scandal and accusations of corruption, it is no surprise that up until 2016, Mitie was run by the Tory peer Ruby McGregor-Smith, and continues to be linked with Conservative Party donors.

Whilst Boris Johnson was blabbering about Peppa Pig World, Tom Pursglove (the Minister for Justice and Tackling Illegal Migration) visited Derwentside whilst Priti Patel confirmed it would officially be opening.

In response to this 'No to Hassockfield’ encouraged ever more action with “monthly demonstrations on every third Saturday of the month”, pointing specifically to Agnes Tanoh’s work with the group ‘Women for Refugee Women’ who oppose detention, and work with those already detained. ‘Friends Across Borders’ have also been working to provide resources to women detained as well.

Opposition was renewed after 27 people died attempting to cross the channel on Wednesday 24 November. This tragedy is another damning indictment of border and immigration policy in the UK, and across the wider “Fortress Europe”.

In a statement to The House of Commons the day after, Priti Patel called for greater border security, pledging more UK forces to France in an attempt to secure the coast, resulting in her being uninvited from a meeting with several European countries to discuss the crisis.

With the Nationality and Borders bill set to make conditions even worse for refugees fleeing violence and persecution, it is hard to see light at the end of the tunnel. However, at the protest an impassioned Yunus Bakhsh stressed the need for ever more solidarity with those due to be detained at Derwentside, concluding his speech with: “I do not know the women that will be detained in here and they do not know me, but they are my sisters and I will fight for them”.