Today marks the 28th day since we began our strike here in Yarl’s Wood, in any other developed country most of us would have been released by now.

We began by doing a peaceful sit in protest outside the Home Office department where we handed Home Office officials our list of demands. They in turn took note of our names on the pretence they would address our demands and reply to each individual. I am sad to say that what they did instead was to target each individual, with many of our original group now deported or released back into the community.

This action only highlights the reasons we were driven to take such drastic and desperate measures, as the Home Office, rather than being concerned with our welfare as they and the Immigration Minister have repeatedly stated, instead capitalised on our weakened state.

It proves that the system we are fighting against is truly unjust, unethical and wrong on every level, we do not feel as though we have achieved much as the Home Office continue to break existing laws and their own guidelines by detaining vulnerable people, and people that cannot be removed and instead are detained indefinitely and forced to fight their cases while incarcerated, putting them at a great disadvantage.

We do have hope that people are starting to wake up to what is really happening in this country that likes to present itself to the rest of the world as a leader in human rights and civil liberties, which we have none within its borders.

Why should the fortune of birth dictate what rights a person should have within our borders? And even though the hunger strike is now over, we are still hungry for our freedom and justice. We will continue to protest and fight for our human rights, and will not participate in our own detention.

We are comforted when MP’s like Diane Abbott and Stuart McDonald not only visit Yarl’s Wood, but address our concerns and campaign on our behalf, and also David Lammy, because it gives me hope that like all the people who support us, they understand that allowing any group of people to be denied basic human rights and due process serves to make easier targets of all in society whether British born or otherwise for the same treatment.

We must all fight together to stop this spiral into division, intolerance and the disintegration of liberty, for liberty is easily lost but very hard earned as history proves over and over.

We are sorry that Alistair Burt MP who’s constituency we are incarcerated in has not kept his promise to us, and has not made any contact after his visit in which he promised to give the Immigration Minister our list of demands and raise our concerns over indefinite detention and the detention of vulnerable people, but sadly I am not surprised.

Moving forward, as well as our original demands, we want victims of rape, torture, trafficking, forced labour, asylum seekers and those who have been detained for six months or more to be released immediately. We do not feel this is unreasonable but a necessity.

Thank you all for your continued support as it gives us great strength in these most difficult circumstances to keep fighting the injustices we face daily.

We, the Yarl’s Wood Strikers, would like to meet with Yvette Cooper, Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Stuart McDonald and as many other members of the Home Affairs Committee as possible regarding the questions they will pose to Serco at the Select Committee hearing on Tuesday, 20 March.

We strongly feel that while Serco are tasked with the running of Yarl’s Wood it is ultimately the Home Office who is responsible for the misery we suffer. We want them to raise our demands to end indefinite detention, inadequate healthcare, the detention of vulnerable people, asylum seekers, and the detention of those the Home Office is not in a position to remove. We want to change the manner we are treated by the Home Office in general when handling our cases to make sure they respect us as human beings.

We have been striking for three weeks, since 21st February. We are striking with clear and achievable demands. We need the Home Office to be held to account for their actions and to be regulated in some way so that it will no longer break the law and abuse our rights with impunity.

We therefore call on the Home Affairs Select Committee meet with us before the questioning of Serco and to question the Home Office and Immigration Minister with regard to our demands, the UK detention regime and the condition we suffer in Yarl’s Wood.

About the signal, we can’t get any calls through because there is no signal, this is over a week now and I kind of feel like it’s on purpose.

We have to go outside in the rain to make phone calls.

I have been told by officers it’s outside as well but I would like to find out the reason as it’s distressing and very inconvenient when people can’t contact lawyers and family.

I feel even more cut off as most of the time I can’t get back to anyone.

It’s very surreal here In Yarl’s Wood at weekends.

Outside weekends are most people’s favourite part of the week but here it’s the opposite, once you’ve been here a while you start to see the patterns. They purposely take people on weekends and I can’t help but think it’s because it’s harder for most to get hold of lawyers or anyone to help them.

They took a lady to deport to Brazil yesterday, I didn’t know her but her friends told me she has a court date on the 25^th of this month.

It does not surprise me as I know the Home Office does not respect or allow everyone due process, but as word got out that a woman had been taken and was being removed to Kenya the atmosphere became tense and it’s been so quiet. Today I’ve been walking around trying to find out about the Kenyan lady who was snatched away and I could not find anyone to talk to. Everyone was in their rooms quietly, no one in the corridors, very surreal and I found myself remembering one of my favourite zombie movies 28 Days Later when he wakes up and there’s no one around.

Still most people are often in a daze and unresponsive so it’s like The Walking Dead the rest of the time anyway. This is my worst nightmare only I get to wake up to it and not wake out of it.

I just want it to end.

People ARE detained indefinitely not because the Home Office can remove them but because they intend to remove them.

Why deprive people of their liberty when they have no travel documents and ongoing cases which they would be better equipped to fight if they were free from this negative, psychologically oppressive environment.

Surely as the burden of proof is always on the claimant and not the Home Office, it would be a fairer fight. But we don’t get a fair chance when facing the Home Office.