Hunger strike at Yarl's Wood, five weeks on

Eighty-four women commence a hunger strike at Yarl’s Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire. The hunger strike is in protest against the poor conditions, separation from their children, poor health care, insufficient legal representation and their indefinite detention.

 

Yarl’s Wood hunger strikers clash with staff after women are trapped in an airless corridor. Over 50 women are left in the corridor for six hours without water or toilet facilities, and four women faint during this time. Allegations of staff beating some of the women, racial abuse and using riot shields are reported. Four of the women accused of being ring leaders are arrested under the Immigration Act 2009 and taken to Colnbrook detention centre.

 

Aisha, detainee, speaking on her mobile phone while trapped in the corridor at Yarl’s Wood, says: ‘We are in the hallway locked in. We have been here for five hours. There's no ventilation, no food, no nothing. We just wanted to protest about the way we are being treated by doing the hunger strike. We are having a lot of problems in this centre and we wanted to protest and explain our grievances but they are not going to listen.’

 

Victoria, another hunger striker, reports: ‘I have heard that some people have been arrested but I am not with most of the others. They have been locked in a corridor and I am not allowed to go there. We need the British Government to stop long-term detention. I have been in this centre for 15 months.’

 

By now over 50 women are on hunger strike. The centre is said to be in a ‘state of chaos’ as the women enter their fourth day of striking. The Home Office confirms that around 40 women are involved in a disturbance.

 

In response to the protest, UKBA insists that the ‘peaceful protest’ is resolved.

 

According to David Wood, strategic director for criminality and detention at UKBA, the women held in the corridor were returned to their rooms without staff intervention. He went on to state that "'The well-being of detainees is of paramount concern to the UK Border Agency, which is why healthcare staff and independent monitors from the Independent Monitoring Board were at the scene to witness the women's protest. The demonstration remained passive at all times and there was no use of force. The detainees were integrated back into the centre at the earliest opportunity. All detainees are treated with dignity and respect, with access to legal advice and healthcare facilities.”

 

Mojirola Daniels from Nigeria. “We were singing and chanting for about one and a half hours before we were locked up. Some ladies went to the door and asked to go to the toilet. The officers, including the manager Viv Moore, told us that we are not allowed to leave. Some of the ladies started getting sick and collapsing on the floor…There was no door or windows open and we were all complaining of lack of air. Around 2.00 pm, some Chinese girls asked the officers to go to the toilet and they were told no one is allowed to get out. The [women bent] down at the corner and peed on the floor…the officers were all watching and still refused to open the door.”

 

One week into the strike and pressure is mounting. Denise McNeil, one of the hunger strikers, is being held in isolation. She reports being beaten by staff, and other women confirm her allegations.  

 

Alistair Burt, Tory MP for North East Bedfordshire is quoted as saying: ‘It is essential for the integrity of the asylum system that there is proper verification of exactly what happened last Monday at Yarl's Wood…There should be an independent inquiry or at least independent report, possibly through the chief inspector of prisons.’

 

A demonstration is held outside Serco’s offices in London in solidarity with the Yarl’s Wood hunger strikers.

  

The four women arrested for their involvement in the hunger strike are taken to prison. Gladys Obiyan from Nigeria and Sheree Wilson from Jamaica are taken to HMP Holloway. Aminata Camara from Guinea and Shellyann Syupart from Jamaica are taken to HMP Bronzefield. All are held without charge.

 

A Protest is held outside of HMP Holloway calling for the release of the ‘Yarl’s Wood Four’ and in support of the hunger strikers at Yarl’s Wood.

 

A Protest outside Serco offices calls for the immediate release of women being held indefinitely at Yarl’s Wood.

 

A Demonstration outside Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre is held in solidarity with the women on hunger strike.

 

Denise McNeil, one of the hunger strikers at Yarl’s Wood, talks to The Guardian about her ordeal and why she is on strike. Denise is now being held without charge at Holloway Prison along with 4 other women.

 

Denise McNeil: ‘The women have been through terrible experiences – some are survivors of rape and torture – but we are treated like criminals. When we staged a protest two weeks ago, we were locked in a corridor, with no water or toilet facilities. After two hours, some women felt sick. One had an asthma attack and we begged the officers to let her out, but they refused. Since then, I have been detained in isolation.’

 

Phil Shiner and Daniel Carey of Public Interest Lawyers discuss the detention of women and children held at Yarl’s Wood and the way asylum seekers are treated in general through the immigration system.

MPs John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn take the matter to Parliament with Early Day Motion 919 calling for an independent investigation into the events at Yarl’s Wood. The EDM condemns the detention of rape victims and separation of mothers from their children; questions the alleged use of force by staff at the centre; and requests that all women on the strike are not deported or removed while the investigation is pending. Fifteen other MPs endorsed the motion.

 

Home Office Minister Meg Hillier responds to the media coverage of the hunger strike in a letter to Parliament. In the letter, she dismisses claims of mistreatment and criticises The Guardian’s coverage of the strike. She alleges that hunger strikers are eating from the vending machines and drinking water.

 

Thirty-four women detained at Yarl’s Wood issue a statement through the Black Women’s Rape Action Project stating that they are still on hunger strike. They deny the claims made in Meg Hillier’s letter.

 

A protest outside Serco offices calls for the immediate release of women and children at Yarl’s Wood.

 

Adeola Omotosho, 44, from Nigeria, was injured during a disturbance. "The officers closed the window against my finger. It was very painful and I was really bleeding heavily, but they still refused to open the window. So I called an ambulance, but it was not allowed to come in…Black monkeys is what they call us. They don't like us at all. They tell us to go back to our countries."

 

It is reported that senior UKBA officials are to be questioned about the use of force used at Yarl’s Wood; in particular, MPs will be asking about the allegations of assault and the use of riot shields by Serco staff at the centre.

 

McFadgenn, a commentator for The Independent, discusses the recent events at Yarl’s Wood and talks about her experience visiting the centre a few years ago.

 

Diane Abbott, Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington criticises Meg Hillier’s letter in a commentary in The Guardian entitled ‘The real distress at Yarl’s Wood.’ Diane notes that Hillier has never visited Yarl’s Wood and had she done so, she most likely would not have signed the letter. In response to Hillier’s comment of ‘inaccurate and fabricated statements’ causing further distress to the women, Abbott points out that it is the ‘conditions at Yarl’s Wood that have caused ‘unnecessary distress’ and driven the women to go on hunger strike.’

 

Alasdair Palmer, a journalist for The Telegraph, questions the authenticity of the hunger strike.