Bail For Immigration Detainees

If you missed our event 'Behind Locked Doors' you can now catch up on the BID website where you can watch clips and download the slides: http://bit.ly/BehindLockedDoors

Warning this article contains distressing footage.Emma Ginn, director of the detention charity Medical Justice: “The Home Office is clearly still outsourcing abuse. For over a decade our volunteer doctors have documented injuries sustained by immigration detainees at the hands of violent guards, including fractured facial bones needing reconstructive surgery.”

"The same politicians who see migrants as a threat to “British values” such as the “rule of law” tried to deport people who didn’t get proper access to legal advice, and then complained when the courts tried to prevent it. The irony is bitter indeed."

Article by our Research & Policy coordinator Rudy Schulkind in the wake of the Jamaica Charter Flight which left yesterday morning: 'Despite the last minute reprieves, the damage this charter flight has done cannot be undone. I asked EJ how he felt when he found out his removal directions were cancelled. “It was a disgusting, diabolical feeling” he said. “It was disgusting to feel that I was being made to beg to stay in a country that I’ve been in all my life. I went to school here, I went to university here, it just makes me feel like an absolute scumbag, like the country doesn’t want me.”'

Our thoughts are with the families torn apart this morning.

Awais’ story is incredibly powerful. Many other survivors of modern slavery are detained and face enforced removal. This government will never tackle modern slavery effectively if it continues to see the victims through the lens of immigration enforcement.

Calling all baking enthusiasts! If you're passionate about access to justice why not #Bake4BID by signing up for the London Legal Support Trust #GreatLegalBake next week. We'll spend every penny raised for us on free legal advice for people in detention: http://bit.ly/BAKE4BID

A huge thank you to over 170 people who attended #BehindClosedDoors yesterday to hear from Bell Ribeiro-Addy, May Bulman, Toufique Hossain, our Prisons' Project Manager & a former BID client. Thanks to our speakers, Filmmakers for Change for the photos & to Clifford Chance LLP for hosting us.

In whose interests is it for these children to grow up without their father? And why would this government rather push ahead with charter flights to Jamaica than publish the Windrush 'lessons learned' review?

"Behind Locked Doors: Immigration detention in prisons exposed" is tomorrow & there are just a few seats remaining! Book your free ticket now to hear from Lowkey, May Bulman, Toufique Hossain, a former BID client & BID's Prisons' Project Manager.

This is no surprise to us and reflects the demographics of people we meet in detention: "Oxford Migration Observatory research on attitudes to immigration finds more than a third of British people would want no Nigerians or Pakistanis to come to the UK, but just one in 10 would want to stop those from culturally close countries, such as Australia."

Delighted to announce rapper & campaigner Lowkey will be speaking at "Behind Locked Doors: Immigration detention in prisons exposed" on 29 Jan. Book your free ticket now to hear from him, award winning journalist May Bulman, public law solicitor Toufique Hussain, a former BID client & the BID team.

BID & Medical Justice submitted evidence to the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in advance of their review of the UK. We are hoping they will focus on the many human rights violations that occur in immigration detention. You can read the evidence on our website.

Hundreds of people are detained in prison each year. With no legal advice and restricted communications challenging your detention and deportation is well-nigh impossible. Book your free ticket to join us two weeks today as we unpick this topic.

We'd like to say a huge thank you to the magical Deep Throat Choir who raised over £1,000 for BID at their Christmas fundraiser. Thanks to everyone who performed, organised and attended we are so grateful to have such talented and dedicated supporters.

Join over 100 people already registered for "Behind Locked Doors" where we'll come together to expose the abhorrent injustice of locking people up in prisons for immigration purposes. Book your free ticket now!

Five officers brutally restrained this vulnerable woman for rightfully resisting deportation on plane she was not supposed to be on. A fact the Home Office later admitted was correct. She was on constant watch by guards at the centre because of vulnerabilities due to a risk of self-harm, yet they thought this level of force was appropriate. She is now in court accused of attacking the staff who wrongly tried to deport her, but who will hold the Home Office to account?

If you haven't already, book your free ticket for 'Behind Locked Doors' to hear from award-winning journalist May Bulman and Toufique Hossain Director of Public Law and Immigration at Duncan Lewis Solicitors, a former client who has experienced detention in prison and the BID team. Join us as we come together to expose this injustice.