Labour’s plan to reopen immigrant detention centres will be disastrous

Your report on the escalating violence and deteriorating conditions at Gatwick immigration removal centre should send shockwaves through anyone with a conscience (Gatwick immigration removal centre getting less safe for detainees, says watchdog, 29 August). The fact that nearly a year after the Brook House inquiry revealed a culture of abuse, the government has allowed these horrors to persist – and worsen – is beyond appalling.
As someone who has survived the nightmare of immigration detention, I know first-hand the toll that it takes on the human soul. The government’s response? To expand this inhumane system by planning to reopen the Haslar and Campsfield House centres in Hampshire and Oxfordshire respectively, ignoring the mountain of evidence that detention inflicts profound harm. This isn’t just a misstep, it’s a blatant betrayal of human dignity.
This is why a coalition of more than 40 organisations and 20 individuals, including local residents, human rights groups and those with lived experience, have issued a public statement demanding an immediate halt to the reopening of the Haslar and Campsfield House centres. Our statement is a call to action, urging the government to pivot towards community-based alternatives that uphold our values of humanity and justice. If nothing else, at least listen to those of us who lived through these horrors.
If the government continues down this path, it will be a policy failure and a moral catastrophe.Gee ManoharanCo-director for policy and influencing, Association of Visitors to Immigration Detainees