In a report published yesterday, Locked up, locked out: health and human rights in immigration detention, the British Medical Association (BMA) calls for a phasing out of immigration detention and the implementation of community-based alternatives to detention.
JRS UK Director Sarah Teather responded to the news saying:
“We welcome the call from the BMA to implement more humane alternatives to detention. This report validates what JRS UK and other organisations working closely with people held in immigration detention have been declaring for years: indefinite detention causes undue stress and suffering, often compounding existing vulnerabilities.
Immigration Removal Centres cannot adequately respond to the health needs of extremely vulnerable individuals, such as victims of torture and those suffering from severe mental illnesses. It is time to recognise that the UK needs to move away from its intensive use of immigration detention and start to implement community-based alternatives.”
JRS UK has a longstanding ministry of outreach to immigration detention, with volunteers and staff providing pastoral and practical support to those in the Heathrow Immigration Removal Centres, Colnbrook and Harmondsworth. To find out more about how you can support those in immigration detention, either by raising awareness of the situation or by volunteering to visit someone through the JRS volunteer scheme, please contact detentionuk@jrs.net