Family wins £100,000 for unlawful detention
Family wins £100,000 for unlawful detention
A Bolivian family has won a £100,000 settlement from the Home Office after being falsely imprisoned at Oakington Detention Centre, The Guardian reported.
Carmen Quiroga, with her four children aged between 3 and 11 years, were unlawfully detained for forty-two days in conditions that have been described as “appalling”.
Denied access to medicine and appropriate food, the family was also subject to verbal abuse and threats by detention staff. On one occasion, Quiroga was struck by a security guard in front of her children.
The family’s solicitors argued that they had suffered inhuman and degrading treatment in contravention to the European Convention.
The horrendous effects of detention on children are well documented. Since being detained, Quiroga has had to seek ‘significant psychicatric help’ for her youngest daughter, who she saw strip-searching and abusing her dolls.
The family won compensation not only for unlawful detention, but also for the serious psychological injuries that the children suffered.
See the full story in last week’s Guardian for further details.