Number of asylum seekers held in NI prisons doubles

An increasing number of asylum seekers arriving in Northern Ireland are being locked up in prison as part of the Home Office’s detention policy, a new report has revealed today.

The report, 'Measuring Misery, detention of asylum seekers in Northern Ireland: a statistical analysis 2002-2004', by the Refugee Action Group, comes just days before the Prison Service is due to move asylum seekers and other immigration detainees from Maghaberry jail to prison facilities at Belfast Prison (Crumlin Road) and Hydebank Wood Young Offenders Centre.

Among its findings, the report revealed that:

• the numbers of asylum seekers imprisoned in Northern Ireland has more than doubled.
• there has been a five-fold increase in the number of female asylum seekers being detained in prison.
• a total prison bill over two years of between £560,000 and £870,000 for asylum seekers and between £1 and £1.5 million for all immigration detainees.

Patrick Corrigan of Amnesty International, one of the report authors, said: “Our findings reveal a shocking increase in the use of prison for dealing with people who have often fled to Northern Ireland in fear of their lives. Over the two years we examined in detail, we see more men, more women and more children being put behind bars even though they have no committed no crime.

“This is a classic case of injustice and it is being carried out by the Home Office and the Northern Ireland Office in our midst. The imminent removal of asylum seekers from Maghaberry to prison facilities at Crumlin Road and Hyde Bank Wood is not a solution to this problem, but a signal of the Government’s current intention to continue with this discredited policy in Northern Ireland. The publication of this report today signals our resolve to keep speaking out for justice and an end to this policy.”

Today's research is based on the prison visit reports during March 2002 – February 2004 of the Group, which has carried out weekly welfare visits to immigration detainees being held in Northern Ireland prisons since 2001.

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