2015 was a significant year for challenging immigration detention. In March, the first-ever parliamentary inquiry into detention released its report, which called for fundamental reform of a system that looks up far too many people, for far too long. Protests outside detention centres grew and grew. After a series of legal victories, the detained fast-track system was suspended. In September, parliament debated detention, and heard cross-party voices calling for a time limit (the UK is the only EU state with no time limit on detention). Although the government is already planning its replacement to the fast-track system, the groundswell of popular opposition to detention will continue into 2016, as will litigation challenging operational aspects of the system. The Immigration Bill currently passing through the House of Lords provides a further opportunity for detention reform.
The last year ended with Unlocking Detention 2015, the second virtual tour of the UK’s immigration detention estate, the first of which was covered extensively on openDemocracy. Unlocking Detention is all about raising awareness of immigration detention, one of the gravest civil liberties issues in the UK today. The recent 'Is Britain Fairer?' report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, described indefinite immigration detention as a 'serious challenge' to the UK’s human rights record.
Each week from 21 September until 18 December 2015 we shone a spotlight on detention, focusing on a different detention centre each week. We first ran Unlocking Detention in 2014, to counter the 'out of sight, out of mind' barrier that prevents immigration detention receiving the attention it demands. Using twitter, blog posts, interviews and photos, we've shared fascinating and moving insights into people's experiences of detention – from those who have been detained in the past, those detained right now, volunteers who visit people in detention, family members and communities affected by detention, and NGOs working to challenge the detention regime.
