Campsfield House IRC

Campsfield House IRC is an immigration removal centre

List of centre managers

• Joanne Henney from July 2006 to June 2009
• Alex Sweeney from 2009 to April 2010
• Paul Morrison from 2011 to early 2014
• Andrew Simpson to June 2014
• Neil Aubeelack from June 2014

History

Campsfield was opened as an immigration detention centre in November 1993. It used to be a borstal. The first detainees were brought from Harmondsworth IRC.

1994 hunger strike

Early in 1994, ten Algerians (including one woman) staged a successful hunger strike at Campsfield and were released. Following this, 180 out of 200 detainees at Campsfield went on hunger strike. Several of them gained access to the roof and communicated with demonstrators outside the centre. This sparked hunger strikes at other centres and prisons. In March, detainees at Campsfield protest on the roof. The authorities reacted by moving 15 so called ring leaders from Campsfield to Winson Green, Bullingdon and Blakenhurst prisons. Some were put in segregation cells and two were put on suicide watch in bare cells. All of the 'ringleaders' ended up in hospital and were not released from detention. The last hunger striker stops after 41 days.

In June, there was an uprising at Campsfield following the deportation of former hunger strike Ali Tamarat without any warning, despite previous assurances by the immigration staff. Detainees protest on the roof and 11 escape. Riot police moved 22 detainees to prison, and at least five detainees are injured.

Later in 1994, Ghanaian detainees went on hunger strike. Despite an official ban on using gags after the death of Joy Gardner, a Campsfield detainee is bound, gagged and deported to Ghana.

1995 protests

A successful hunger strike in February saw detainees win access to halal food and a change to meal times so Muslim detainees could observe Ramadan.

In March, two detainees (Anne-Marie Sonan and Sita Kamara) are released after a hunger strike. However, two other detainees were deported in May despite being on hunger strike for over 30 days and being too weak to walk. One was subsequently hospitalised in India for several weeks.

1996 escape attempt

Six detainees try to escape but are caught and transferred to prison

1997 protests

"In May 1997, when an Algerian falsely accused of sexual harassment was removed to Winson Green prison, his friends, after spending the morning "talking and talking", decided to climb onto a roof to demand his return. They stayed on the roof all night and most of the next day, with a little food and some blankets passed up to them by detainees below. About one hundred other detainees, refusing to be locked into their rooms, broke out into a courtyard and were eventually locked into another wing. Extra Group 4 guards were bussed into Campsfield in riot gear. Eventually the rooftop protesters were forced down by the cold and the rain. They were transferred to Winson Green, Rochester and Tinsley House.

On August 20 1997, there was another mass protest, triggered by the early morning removal of two West African detainees. One of them was ill, resisted and woke everybody with his cries of pain. The detainees who saw his removal thought he was being strangled, and demanded to know why the two were being removed. Eventually nearly all of the detainees were outside in the courtyard protesting and displaying placards saying they were not criminals. Group 4 donned their riot gear, numerous police and extra guards were brought in, and, so the government claimed, a further £100,000 of material damage was caused by detainees. Mike O'Brien,Home Office Immigration Minister, issued an inflammatory press statement headed "BURNING BOOKS - IN A MOMENT OF MADNESS", ignoring the fact that library facilities were burned by one individual who was never identified by the authorities. 'The detainees', he said, 'destroyed their own facilities'." Ten West African young men, two people from the Caribbean and one Lebanese person were charged with riot. Charges against four were dropped, leaving the so called Campsfield Nine - including three minors, two who attempt suicide in detention, and two who are granted refugee status and win bail.

1998 Campsfield Nine trial

All of the Campsfield Nine are acquitted when prosecution admits that their witnesses, Group 4 and Immigration staff, are ‘unreliable’, and that security guards destroyed telephones and hit detainees. Four of the Nine are detained in Rochester prison.

70 detainees start mass hunger strike in Campsfield for one week demanding visit by the immigration minister. Spokesperson for detainees was victimized and moved to prison.

All of the Campsfield Nine are released from detention following concerted lobbying and another suicide attempt. Eight of the nine decide to sue the Home Office and Group 4 for malicious prosecution.

1999

Two detainees injure themselves, one very seriously, trying to escape. Twenty detainees protest on the roof after having been detained for over one year.

2001 fire

"A further protest took place took place at the end of 2001, when detainees reacted angrily to the refusal of immigration officials to meet them to respond to their grievances. A fire was started. Some detainees were removed to Yarl's Wood IRC, where they were further traumatised by the much more severe fire of February 14 2002."

2002 escape, closure announcement and u-turn

In January 2002, five Romanian asylum seekers escaped from Campsfield. Investigators found a hole in the perimeter fence.

On 7 February, Home Secretary David Blunkett announced that he intended "to close Campsfield House. This outdated centre is no longer appropriate in the 21st century. These places will be transferred to the new high standard [sic] removal centres." However, after the newly built Yarl's Wood IRC was half destroyed by fire, Blunkett drops his plan to close Campsfield.

2003 inspection

Chief Inspector of Prisons, Anne Owers, concludes Campsfield is not ‘a place of safety’. 120 detainees go on hunger strike in June, and another 66 go on hunger strike in December.

2005 death in detention

On 27 June, an 18 year old Kurdish detainee, Ramazan Kimluca, hangs himself in Campsfield. In July, a detainee sews his lips together and swallows the needle.

2007 escape and fire

26 detainees escape from Campsfield after a fire in June. 9 remain free.

The operator, Geo Group UK, sack the Campsfield chaplain Father Seraphim for speaking on radio. After several years, he receives an out of court settlement in recognition that he was wrongfully treated.

In December, a major disturbance starts after the violent removal of Davis Osagi. Fires are lit, the Blue Block is closed and detainees are moved to other centres and prisons.