News
28 February 2011 Press Statement
New podcast from Harriet Grant for The Guardian on the detention of foreign national ex-offenders
Guardian Focus podcast: The indefinite detention of foreign prisoners
Hundreds of foreign prisoners are held indefinitely after they have served their criminal sentences. Harriet Grant investigates
"With no time limit on immigration detention, hundreds of people who can't be deported are spending years locked up, with no idea when they will be released or sent home. Human rights lawyers say this is breaches detainees' human rights. The Home Office says some people who spend long periods in detention refuse to cooperate with their own deportation. But as Harriet Grant discovered, the truth is less clear cut.
"We hear from Ahmed, who was desperate to go back to Iran, but when the Home Office couldn't get travel documents for him he ended up spending two years in immigration detention. He is now fighting for compensation for the time he spent locked up.
Among those who are resisting removal are many people who have lived most of their lives in the UK, often legally. Rabah discusses his fight to stay in the UK with his family.
Some have won unlawful detention cases, with the help of pressure groups such as Bail for Immigration Detainees. Its head lawyer, Pierre Makhlouf, outlines some of the reasons people get stuck in the system.
Lawyer Stephanie Harrison of Garden Court Chambers wants a time limit on detention, so that if someone cannot be removed they have to be released.
The plights of these prisoners is not a popular political cause. Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes argues against Harrison's proposal - despite the Liberal Democrats' commitment to fight against indefinite detention. The head of the Home Affairs Commons select committee, Labour MP Keith Vaz, blames administrative delay for the continued detention of foreign criminals, and not political posturing.
As the supreme court considers the case of one man who spent five years in immigration detention, a case that will define the powers the Home Office have to detain foreign prisoners while trying to deport them, we look at the story behind the headlines.
* Follow Harriet Grant on Twitter: twitter.com/harrietgrant
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- BID letter in the Guardian on the need to respect human rights for foreign national ex-offenders
- BID raises concerns about new HMIP approach to immigration detention inspections
- BID intervenes in Home Office challenge to limit private law claim for unlawful detention
- Former client of BID granted refugee status
- Former IAS clients - how to obtain files and original documents from the administrator. There is a deadline of 28th May 2012 for retrieval.
- Discriminatory attempt to use criminal justice provision to effect immigration control in Legal Aid, Sentencing & Punishment of Offenders Bill
- NEW BID Travel Document Project briefing on 'Cooperation & Removability', including practical steps, and criminal sanctions (s35 prosecutions) and 'reasonable excuse'
- Bailed detainees - how to make an application for S4 bail accommodation and support once released if a private accommodation arrangement breaks down
- NEW leaflet 'Accomodation and Financial Support on Release' for detainees, from BID and the Ex-Detainee Project at Dover Detainee Visitor Group
- ILPA & BID joint response to consultation on new bail guidance for immigration judges
- Prisons Inspector criticises UK Border Agency for holding too many pregnant women in detention
- New LSC legal surgery rotas available here
- Inspectorate report on UKBA and foreign national ex-offenders
- Refugee Children's Consortium briefing - current situation around immigration detention of children & the new family returns process, Sept 16th 2011
- Latest (2011) version of UKBA's Emergency Travel Document timescales and requirements now available to download from BID website
- Superceded 2003 bail guidance for adjudicators along with timeline of use - for reference
- Link to urgent advice for clients of IAS (Immigration Advisory Service) from the administrator
- Revised immigration bail guidance for immigration judges released by President of the First Tier Tribunal of the Immigration & Asylum Chamber.
- Latest BID & ICAR survey finds detainees now less aware of the free 30 minutes legal advice scheme in IRCs, and 32% of those using the DDA scheme wait one week or more for appointment
- UKBA's Emergency Travel Document timescales and requirements now available to download from BID website (2010 version)
- Judgment handed down on unlawful detention of foreign national ex-offender after the Home Office failed to carry out regular detention reviews as required - SK (Zimbabwe) v SSHD
- BID has published new research on detention of children
- UKBA have disclosed the 2010 Returns Group Documentation Unit (RGDU) ETD Country Reference Guide after a BID FOI request
- BID now on Twitter - follow BID's work and news from the world of detention
- BID's comments to Independent Chief Inspector of UKBA on forthcoming joint and thematic inspections - immigration casework and Detained Fast Track
- Outcry! partnership between BID and The Children's Society on child detention comes to an end
- BID is looking for new Trustees to join our Board - Treasurer post, and people with fundraising & communications experience
- Judgment handed down on unlawful detention of mother separated from her children
- BID needs a Media & Communications volunteer for our research and policy office in London. Contact us now!
- New podcast from Harriet Grant for The Guardian on the detention of foreign national ex-offenders
- BID publishes a new bulletin 'The right to legal aid for bail applications'
- BID & ICAR survey shows 19% of detainees interviewed never had any legal advice while in detention
- OutCry! response to Nick Clegg's announcement on the detention of children
- BID is the 2010 winner of the JUSTICE Human Rights Award
- Outcry! briefing outlining concern about new proposed methods of forcibly removing families
- BID & ICAR new survey on level of legal representation among detainees across the detention estate Nov 2010
- New BID bulletin on Section 4 applications for bail accommodation November 2010
- Immigration detainees failed by bail process - new BID report
- BID and The Children's Society comment on child detention figures