Annual Report 2004 – 2005

ABOUT LDSG

The London Detainee Support Group (LDSG) is a non-political and non-religious registered charity that befriends and supports asylum-seekers and others in detention, primarily at Harmondsworth and Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centres. Detainees are held indefinitely without charge and without automatic access to bail hearings. Many have no connections in the UK, little or no English, and little understanding of the asylum system. For some, LDSG is their only source of contact with and information from the outside world.


In 1993, two volunteers formed a group to visit detainees at Harmondsworth and in London prisons. At that time it was possible for visitors and detainees to meet as a group. Training for visitors was first organised in 1994. The first AGM was held in 1995, and from 1996 funding was secured for paid staff.

LDSG’s core work is the recruitment, support, training and co-ordination of volunteer visitors who befriend individual detainees at Harmondsworth and Colnbrook through regular visits every week / 10 days. These visits are vital in helping detainees to cope with the distress, isolation and confusion caused by indeterminate detention. Many asylum-seekers are detained on arrival in the UK and their asylum claims fast-tracked in Harmondsworth, so often they have had no contact with non-detainees other than immigration officers and detention centre staff. There is no restriction on length of detention pending removal: we are currently visiting one detainee who has been in detention for over two years, and several others who are approaching this. Volunteers and LDSG staff help empower frightened, disorientated and apprehensive detainees to plan for their future, however uncertain.

The LDSG freephone line is widely advertised through multilingual posters and leaflets in the centres, and it is a crucial link to the outside world for detainees with severely limited access to telephone cards. Due to language barriers and the fact of their detention, detainees often have great difficulty accessing services and even contacting their solicitors. Visitors and LDSG staff act to signpost, liaise with service providers (e.g. solicitors, bail organisations) and empower detainees to make choices about the services available to them.

The new Colnbrook centre opened in September 2004, and we were active visiting clients there from the first days of its operation. It holds up to 326 detainees, while Harmondsworth has a capacity of 551. Consequently, we have seen a steady increase in clients requesting our service, and it has been necessary to dramatically increase the size of our pool of volunteers in order to provide our service to both centres. We currently have around 60 active volunteers at any one time, enabling us to visit around 70 clients at any one time.

CHAIR’S REPORT

This year has been full of highs and lows!

The first half of the year was a very testing time for the organisation. We started the year in April with a very low funding base and had to find a way of operating within these financial constraints. Staffing levels had to be kept to an absolute minimum; expenses to volunteers were limited as was material support such as phone cards traditionally offered to detainees.

Despite these short-term difficulties we had to consider the future. The full impact of the fast track policy and the opening of Colnbook were clear indicators of a likely growth in the number of clients. Rather than shrinking, LDSG needed to expand to meet this growing demand.

We are delighted to report that through great efforts from everyone involved LDSG has emerged in a very positive position.

Early in 2005 we were delighted to receive important additional funding from the Indigo Trust. This meant we could reliably increase the staffing levels to provide extra capacity for the vital work of maintaining contact with detainees and recruitment and training of additional volunteers. Sabri Dikmen and Mireia Cano Vinas have successfully worked a job share filling the role of Project Worker.

Yet more excitement recently when we learnt of funding from Big Lottery Fund. Now we can really expand to truly meet the increased demand from clients.

The securing of a stable financial future is a significant achievement by all involved. It makes a great difference to LDSG’s ability to effectively support detainees and on behalf of the organisation I would to acknowledge the contribution and continual support of all our funders.

We’ve also seen some changes in the Management Committee. Catherine Perez Phillips stood down as Chair at the end of 2004. Many thanks to Catherine for her leadership and continued involvement as Vice Chair. I would also like to thank all my other fellow trustees for their commitment and hard work.

Extra special thanks have to go to Jerome Phelps, Manager of LSDG and every volunteer. They are the heroes. Their tremendous dedication and commitment ensured that, even in the more difficult times, LDSG has been able to provide the very necessary support to an increased number of clients with growing needs.

Having come through a very changeable year we can look forward to a period of greater stability, confident that LDSG can fulfil its central aim – supporting fellow human beings that find themselves in detention, their futures unknown and feeling the stress these circumstances can cause.

Stella Hall, Chair

MANAGER’S REPORT

The last year has seen a dramatic expansion in the use of detention in London, and a consequent equivalent increase in numbers of detainees requesting our service. Happily, we have been able to meet these challenges through a substantial increase in volunteer numbers and the creation of a second staff position, made possible by our successful fundraising.

Although we began the year with only one full-time staff member due to the expiry of previous grants, we were delighted that the Indigo Trust, part of the Sainsbury Family Trusts group, agreed to fund a new full-time project worker post from January 2005. Sabri Dikmen (who was appointed on a part-time basis in August 2004) and Mireia Cano were appointed to the post on a job-share basis, and their experience and unflappability have proved a great asset to the organisation. We are also very grateful to our ongoing funders, in particular the LankellyChase Foundation, the J. Paul Getty Jr Charitable Trust, the City Parochial Foundation and Comic Relief, for their unflagging support which enabled us to successfully negotiate our period of funding uncertainty.

The new Colnbrook centre is modelled more closely on the prison estate in terms of its design and security regime. This has caused additional stress to those of our clients detained there, due to the reduced freedom of movement and increased perception of being treated as criminals. Moreover, our experience suggests that detainees in Colnbrook are more likely than the rest of the detainee population to have additional complications to their cases. As a result, these clients have additional needs for advice and support as they attempt to cope with the issues facing them, from finding legal advice to appeal against deportation orders relating to criminal convictions, to surviving in detention with mental health disorders.

This has posed a new set of challenges, both for individual visitors and for the organisation as a whole. Happily, we have been successful in securing funding from the Big Lottery Fund for a new full-time project worker over the next three years, to give us the capacity to develop our services in this new context. The new post-holder will be working solely with Colnbrook clients and visitors, designing and implementing suitable advanced training programmes for visitors and extending our work to address the needs of Colnbrook detainees. Moreover, we have already developed a good dialogue with Premier Detention Services at Colnbrook, and are optimistic that we will be able to extend our work there into new areas.

In the summer of 2004, there was mounting concern about the large numbers of detainees who were claiming that they had been seriously assaulted during removal attempts by the staff of the private security companies contracted to escort them. Of particular concern was that many of the alleged assaults occurred in the vans after the detainee had refused to travel and been taken off the plane. The Medical Foundation for the Care of the Victims of Torture agreed to undertake research into the issue, and we made a number of referrals to them immediately following alleged assaults. The Medical Foundation sent in doctors to document the injuries, and where appropriate made referrals to civil action solicitors. Shortly after the Medical Foundation published their research, the Home Office announced that the new contracts would require CCTV to be installed in all vans used for escorting detainees.

For Refugee Week in June 2005 we participated in the Red Cross Asylum Unit’s “Insomnia” exhibition. We encouraged all our clients to write their thoughts on insomnia, which is a condition almost all detainees experience. Many clients sent us their work, a number of which were beautifully written and
very powerful. All submissions were displayed at the exhibition, alongside the work of professional artists. Feedback from visitors to the exhibition was very positive. Many of our volunteers helped out setting up and invigilating the exhibition, alongside the Red Cross. We held a discussion event in the exhibition space: five of our ex-clients spoke about their experiences in detention, and gave a compelling analysis of British detention policy. Jean-Louis Ntadi, a playwright whose work was being performed in the London Eye the following day, gave an exuberant performance of the poem he had written for the exhibition. Speakers and attendees were enthusiastic about the event.

Once again the commitment of our volunteers has been inspirational. There can be few volunteer roles more demanding than to commit yourself to travelling across London at least every 10 days to sit in waiting rooms, be repeatedly searched and fingerprinted, and finally to sit with an immigration detainee for a time, without being able to give him any solutions to his problems. Our clients have very few options available to them, and consequently very few services that they can access. For many, their visitor is their only friend in the country. It is a privilege to work with people who are willing to give so generously of their time and energy to offer human contact to someone at the lowest ebb of their life. And it is very moving to witness the relationships that can develop, across all the boundaries of culture, background and life circumstances. The increasing number of detainees being released rather than removed has meant that we have often been able to meet our clients again in happier circumstances.

Jerome Phelps, Manager / Coordinator

VOLUNTEER PERSPECTIVE

Ahmed had been in detention for 7 months. I had been visiting Ahmed for two months, since I became a volunteer with the London Detainee Support Group in September 2004. On the request of Ahmed, I attended his first bail-hearing last November. This is my experience of what happened.

Virtually every day Ahmed would fax the Home Office asking them to release him. He would often share the Home Office’s curt replies with me when I visited; he had little hope of getting bail and every time I saw Ahmed there was a visible deterioration in his emotional health. He started to self-harm by cutting his arms with a razor blade. He was also taking a lot of sleeping tablets and on one occasion tried to take an overdose.

As soon as Ahmed had a date for his hearing he called and asked if I could attend for moral support. I agreed and called his solicitor to say that I would be happy to give evidence on Ahmed’s behalf if his barrister thought it would help. The bail summary (the Home Office document which gives details of why a detainee should not receive bail) came through the day before the hearing. Ahmed’s solicitor called Ahmed and I separately and went through all the points the Home Office had given for why Ahmed should not be given bail: misbehaviour in detention, not co-operating with removals procedures and that a travel document would come soon.

The night before the bail hearing I called Colnbrook. After the usual palaver of trying to get through I managed to talk to Ahmed. He didn’t think he had a chance of getting bail after hearing what was in the bail summary and he was angry that it included so many lies. I said not to lose hope, that he did have a chance and if he wasn’t successful this time, he could apply again in a month. I reminded him that he had a good barrister and that this would help a lot. I tried to encourage Ahmed to get some sleep so he would have a clear head for the day ahead.

I arrived at the hearing centre in Feltham at 9 am. At 2pm we were finally in court. Ahmed, looking tired and nervous, was escorted into the court room. The hearing lasted over an hour and a half. When I was called to give evidence, I explained how Ahmed’s mental health was deteriorating and tried to portray Ahmed as a normal ‘human being’ who was finding it very difficult to cope with having his freedom taken away from him. I mentioned how the custody officers at Colnbrook talked of him as a ‘model’ detainee and that many of the Home Office accusations in the bail summary did not match the person that I had got to know over the past couple of months. Fortunately, the Home Office representative did not seem very well prepared, was not able to clarify a number of queries the adjudicator had, the key one being, what evidence the Home Office had that a travel document would be forthcoming.

When the adjudicator returned after a short adjournment, it soon became clear that the he would consider bail, as long as he was satisfied with Ahmed’s sureties. Fifteen minutes later and it was all over. The adjudicator had granted bail. Bail conditions were strict – Ahmed would have to stay at the home of one of his sureties every night and report to the local police station twice a week. If either of these conditions were broken then £4,000 bail money would be lost. Ahmed sat their quietly, probably not quite believing what was happening – after seven months in detention he was being released – something that he had not dare contemplate up until now. Ahmed was escorted out of the room and we were told to wait while he went to collect his personal belongings. Five minutes later Ahmed emerged alone, with no escort, carrying two clear bin liners of personal belongings – he was free.

Elli Free, volunteer visitor



TREASURER’S REPORT

The summary report of LDSG’s finances for the year ended 31 March 2005 is presented on the facing page. Full copies of the report are available upon request from the office and have been submitted to the Charity Commission.

LDSG operated at a substantially lower cost base during the year compared to the previous year, following most of our major grants coming to an end by 31 March 2004. However the considerable efforts of staff and Management Committee to find new funding sources were successful, meaning that LDSG was able to operate effectively during the year, albeit with a lower cost structure. From 1 April 2004 we operated with only one permanent member of staff, supported by volunteers.

The new grant from Indigo Trust from January 2005 has enabled LDSG to create a new permanent project worker post, and we have recently learnt that we have been successful in our application to the Big Lottery Fund for funding for a new post and associated costs to enable us to deal with the challenges brought about by the new detention centre at Colnbrook.

Our unrestricted reserves at 31 March 2005 were £15,828. Restricted reserves represented grants paid in advance, to be utilised in the next financial year.

I would like to thank our funders for their invaluable assistance during the year. They are listed at the end of the report. Also individual donations received during the year were much appreciated.

John Brown
Treasurer



STAFF:

Jerome Phelps, Manager/Coordinator

Sabri U. Dikmen, Project Worker (from September 2004)

Mireia Cano Vinas, Project Worker (from January 2005)


MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE:

The members of the management committee who held office during the year were:

Shaista Aziz (resigned September 2004)
Rebecca Bazeley (appointed September 2004, resigned January 2005)
John Brown
Prins Gunesekara (resigned September 2004)
Stella Hall
Hermione Harris
Pamela Kiesselbach (appointed October 2004)
Amanda McDowell (appointed July 2004)
Catherine Perez Phillips
Cathy Stancer (resigned October 2004)
Helen Yuill (appointed September 2004)


INDEPENDENT EXAMINER:

Richard Dodds ACA



LDSG IS SUPPORTED BY:

AW.60 Charitable Trust
Big Lottery Fund
City Parochial Foundation
Comic Relief
Ecumenical Racial Justice Fund
The Eleanor Rathbone Charitable Trust
Miss Elizabeth Johnson’s Charitable Trust
The Indigo Trust
J. Paul Getty Jr Charitable Trust
The LankellyChase Foundation
The Lyndhurst Settlement
The Nationwide Foundation
Odin Charitable Trust