UK: Violent detainee removal triggers riot at Campsfield
01 January 2007
Disturbances broke out at Campsfield House immigration detention centre in Oxfordshire on 14 March triggered by the violent removal of an Algerian detainee. Nine people were injured after a fire broke out at the centre, which is privately run by US company, GEO Group Inc, which assumed the management and operation of the centre in June 2006. Two detainees were taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation. Campsfield, which holds almost 200 detainees, has a long history of protests by detainees who object to being imprisoned without being convicted of a crime - in 1994 a major riot took place following another violent removal of an Algerian detainee.
Campsfield was converted from holding young offenders to an immigration detention centre in 1993 amid protests from local residents. Within months of opening campaigners were celebrating the escape of six detainees following a rooftop protest. The site has since become the focus of concerted protests led by The Campaign to Close Campsfield which describes the detention centre as "an abomination to human rights in that it presumes guilt from the outset". In June 1995, 18-year old Ramazan Kumluca, hanged himself "in despair" at his impending removal from the UK" and in 1997 a major disturbance at the prison led the then Chief Inspector of Prisons, Sir Davis Ramsbotham, to describe the institution as "unsafe". There was a major hunger-strike involving around 90 detainees in 2001 when the High Court ruled that Kurdish refugees detained in a similar centre were being held illegally. The then Home Secretary, David Blunkett, pledged that the site would be closed, but reversed his decision after extensive damage was caused in a revolt at the Yarl's Wood Centre in 2003.
The Lib-Dem MP for Oxford west, Evan Harris, who is a member of the Joint Select Committee for on Human Rights, told the BBC:
There will need to be an investigation of why there has been yet another serious disturbance at Campsfield House, which has been a subject of a number of critical reports by successive chief inspectors of prisons. My Select Committee is already conducting an inquiry into detention of failed asylum seekers following concerns about the physical abuse during removals. The Home Secretary himself a few years ago declared that Campsfield House was not appropriate for the 21st century, but then of course the government decided to keep it open anyway. They will need to look at that question again.
The Campaign to the Close Campsfield website: http://www.closecampsfield.org.uk/; BBC News 15.3.07, Guardian 15.3.07