This statement was given on 28/10/2023 by a person detained in Brook House IRC.

I have been in detention for 5 months in Brook House. They told me that they would give me an asylum address, they say they are processing my case, but I have been here for 5 months and it feels like no one cares about me. They have given me a refusal, that my case has been rejected, without going to court or speaking. I was not present when they made the decision.

I am having a very miserable life in detention. Every second seems like a year. I hired two solicitors already, but they have both been refused to see me. I have been talking to my lawyer to see me, but both times they have not let the lawyer to meet. I asked the manager why they won’t let them see me and he says he is trying to find out but he doesn’t know.

The food being provided is not enough. They run out of sugar, and potatoes, food is missing. We need food, it’s been 6 or 8 hours. The amount is not enough. They are telling me to buy food. Every day I have 70p as my allowance but I cannot afford to buy food. There is corruption, they don’t care about people detained in here.

I have been here for 5 months. I have not had a good meal for 5 months. People detained in here provide me with their food, they share their food with me. I have not had a full stomach for 5 months.

I have been banned from using the Wi-Fi. They told me to log out and banned me, they banned me from using Skype. I have been threatened. I have a miserable life in the detention centre. I have been banned from seeing the Home Office. Whatever they don’t like, the manager and the staff, they threaten to take me to solitary confinement.

When I asked for a face-to-face meeting with the Home Office, I asked for a translator and they provided me with one to interpret, but he was scared to interpret what I wanted to say, he cut out a lot of what I wanted to say because the Home Office was there, the detention officers were there. The interpreter treated me well, but in that instance, he could not say what I wanted to say, he was not interpreting my whole statement to the Home Office.

They threatened to take me to jail. The reason they threatened me to take me to jail, because when I talk I am loud, you think I am screaming, that I’m angry but this is how I talk. One day the charitable organisations, the doctors were there, and the Home Office, when I was explaining my rights, they told me I was angry, and if I continued this behaviour, they threatened to take me to jail. But I’m not shouting, I talk loud. 

I’ve done nothing wrong. It’s been five to seven months. I have not seen my family. I have been detained for no reason.

The managers and the staff are corrupt, they sneak in drugs. They do bribery. The people in detention do drugs, they cannot walk, the detainees. The staff and managers organise through bribery, they sneak in drugs and phones to use inside. I did not know about these drugs until I was inside here. They smoke so much that they cannot walk.

The doctors here do not take me seriously, they only give painkillers. I have a serious medical condition. They do not take me to be checked properly or diagnose me properly. They just give painkillers and say it’s nothing.

I don’t know when I am going to be released or why I am here. I have been left in the dark. No one takes my case seriously. They just put me here. I don’t know what is going to happen in the future. I have no clue. It makes me sad. I only have 70p allowance a day. I don’t know if I should buy food or buy credit to call my family. I am having a difficult time. I don’t know how long they will keep me here. They don’t provide proper care.

I have no hope for life.

I need help to make my voice heard, to help release me. I am so miserable and unhappy, I can’t believe it.

All the people I spoke to in the detention centre they, tell me your case should not be here. The lawyers tell me I am not guilty, they have no reason to keep me inside. Other detainees, it takes them one or two months, only my case it has taken so long. I have been here for much longer than other detainees.

I am scared for my life inside here.