Coronavirus

People are testing positive every day. There are no masks, no sanitisers, no nothing.

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From a person in detention since September 2021

I’ve been in detention for five months. They took me to Brook House first, and I was kept there for a month. They refused my request for release, saying that the Home Office was about to make a decision on my case, so there would be no point. From Brook House they took me to Colnbrook, where I was for another month. Then from Colnbrook they moved me to Harmondsworth, where I’ve been since.

I’ve been really struggling here, I’ve been in a really bad state. My mental health has got worse. I’m getting really bad headaches, bad nightmares, and my anxiety and depression have got worse. They treat us worse than animals. You have to share a room, there’s no privacy. There’s a toilet, a sink and a bunkbed. They lock us in the room from 9 at night until 8 in the morning, 11 hours. There’s no ventilation, no nothing. There’s a window, but it’s triple glazed, you can’t even… There’s no way of breathing. It’s just locked, a thick door. It’s like a proper jail. Some people here have been to jail before and they said it’s exactly the same. They even handcuff us when they take us to hospital for appointments. For two hours a day you can get access to computers to check emails. Everything else is banned – Facebook, YouTube, everything. You can only access your emails, just two hours a day. Also, you get cleaning jobs, laundry jobs – you can work in the kitchen for like three hours, or clean the floor for one or two hours, and they give you just two pounds for that.

There are so many people – about 60 in our wing. They’ve been sort of neglected. Officers here, they’re harsh. Three officers are okay, but most are really harsh, they really don’t care. You have to beg them for anything – seeing a doctor, getting clothing, anything. They just put things in computers, and say “we can’t do anything”. They force you to share your room, and if you say you don’t want to they threaten to put you in ‘the block’ – that’s a place where there’s nothing, no TV, nothing, and you spend a couple of days there.

People are being detained for like two years, three years. Some people want to go back to their countries, and they’re not sending them back. There’s an old guy from India, he’s over 60, and he’s been in detention for the last 11 months. He wants to go back to India because his wife is not well. They’re not sending him back. He’s in a really bad state. So many people are stuck here for months or years.

People are testing positive every day. There are no masks, no sanitisers, no nothing. The sanitisers have been empty for months. There’s no PPE, no nothing. We feel vulnerable, especially those who are older and have other health issues. But they don’t care. I was watching BBC Parliament and there was a debate about detention centres. The lady said, “Oh we have weekly meetings with the detainees about outbreaks.” This is a lie. No meetings have been happening. And there’s nothing to sanitise with. We couldn’t have any visitors up till a few days ago, but then we all mix here. Then they do lockdowns – we had a 15-day lockdown last time, with no internet, stuck in the wings, the corridors. You couldn’t go anywhere else in the detention centre. Detainees were really depressed because we had nothing to do. And somebody like me with mental health issues, it’s really hard. I sit in my room and watch telly. In spite of this outbreak, they still bring loads of detainees every day, spreading the virus. No precautions or 2-metre distance, nothing.

They say they can’t keep people who suffered abuse, torture, any sort of sexual exploitation, and yet there’s loads of people who are victims of torture and abuse here. This is what I say to them – you’re doing the same to me. It’s abuse. You lock us up here for 11 hours a day for what? What are we going to do? You just feel so lethargic. A person with bad mental health gets worse every day here. Recently, some people have been self-harming here. There was an ambulance here the other day. But they are trying to keep it quiet.

I’ve been helping people here, because most of them can’t speak English, I’m filling their forms, speaking to officials for them. I wrote to my MP, I’ve written to the Indian High Commissioner – I’ve been raising my voice, but I’ve been threatened. They say I’m raising my voice too much, that I’ve been asking too many questions. I’ve just been saying the truth. I’ve worked hard for my life here in the UK. I need to get my rights, get my life back.

I just can’t wait to see my kids because I really miss them so much

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I’ve been in ________ detention camp now since January of this year, I basically finished my sentence. After I finished my sentence I spent extra 3 months in jail and I was brought down here to _______ detention camp. It was really, really depressing when they brought me here. It was a very stressful situation for me. This country basically know that … the Home Office basically know that I’ve got children and they brought me here even after I finished my sentence in jail which was very difficult – it made me more depressed.

So the real truth really came up when the corona situation came around in the whole world. At that period the detention people wasn’t really … to be honest they didn’t really care about the corona situation with us – the detainees. There was no hand gel, or anything that would put us in a safe environment in the detention camp. So the only time they were getting this situation serious was when they were getting visited by the immigration – from the big bosses – they were coming down to _________. That was when they started acting like they were doing everything right.

It’s good they’re trying to contain the coronavirus. The wings are closed. But a lot of people are really, really stressed because they want to go to education, they want to go to the internet to speak to their family or immigration – they provide a social media where you can speak to your family. Now, a lot of wings don’t have time to do those things. Because of cross-contact. Now the people that can pick up the coronavirus is the officers, not the detainees – because they’re coming from outside. And the time they’re giving them to go to education or internet is limited. So there’s a lot of things – immigration are just doing that – when people are trying to speak to them – they just do whatever pleases them. They say they can’t do it because of coronavirus – it’s a joke – they didn’t give us no masks – and the officers are coming from outside with no protective gear. They did not give no detainees face mask to cover themselves when it was really, really serious. There was no hand gel, or nothing. So what if corona came in here? What would have they said? It’s not fair. And I heard a couple of officers that had the coronavirus as well and they came to work. There’s no protection – nothing. Until one of the bosses from immigration had to come for a visit. When you go to the healthcare at that time – when the coronavirus was happening, there was no sticker to say 2 metres gap – it was all dangerous. It’s not fair what immigration is doing.

Most of the officers, they’re really nice, but I’d say about 60% of the officers don’t really care about what we really needed.

I would say two things that really happened to me. We’ve got a mouse infestation in the cell – in the wing. We’ve got bed bugs in the cells – they didn’t really take that very seriously until now.

And recently I just changed my wing. I’ll tell you my story, what’s been going on since I’ve been in ____ wing.

There was a time in my cell … I was in my cell watching a TV programme and I heard a scratching noise in my box where I kept my food in. I saw this mouse – there was a mouse in my box and I saw that and I immediately went to report it to the officers. They took my food away. They said they were going to reimburse me with my food. So they kept me hungry for almost 3 weeks before they could even reimburse me with my new canteen that I had in my box. They left me hungry. I told them about it – they said they’d sort it out – they never did – after 3 weeks. The food I had in my box was almost 30-40 something pounds and they only refunded about £20. I asked the manager, ‘so, what you refunded is not enough to cover my whole costs of the food I had’, and that was how everything just went … they no more said anything about it. I just left the whole situation.

So a few days ago as well I was in my cell I was sleeping and I felt a mouse. I was sleeping and felt something scratching my face – it was a mouse. So that was around 4am in the morning, so, I quickly stood up, I saw the mouse jump up and run away. I washed my face very hard. I had to wash my mouth because I was worried that the mouse has weed all over my face. After I cleaned up my face I called the office, I rang the office that was doing the late shift in the morning, they came to my door and said, ‘okay, in the morning try and speak to the manager’. And when it was 8 O clock I phoned the staff and said I wanted to speak to the manager. But I felt really bad because I felt that the staff they didn’t really take my complaint very seriously. And I was really, really upset with it. So they kept me waiting until after 10 in the morning.

Then one of the managers came and I said this was the situation. The manager didn’t even ask me ‘okay, you know what, would you like to move to a different cell, you need a new towel, a new bed sheet’ or something like that – nothing – the first thing she said to me was – ah, she’s going to send me to healthcare psychology. Why would I want to see a psychologist?! Why would I want to see a psychologist?! She was supposed to be someone to care for the detainee, you know? Saying ‘you know what, you need a new towel, have a shower, we’ll make sure we find a new cell for you and if you want to move wing’. She never said anything like that. So basically she put me down for psychology.

When she spoke to me I didn’t say nothing, I was upset by the statement she said. And I went to the health care who said, you know what I need to see a doctor to check myself to make sure the mouse didn’t pee in my mouth or anything like that. Just to make sure I was okay. So, when I came back to my wing I was upset by the whole thing. None of the officers came to me or asked me anything.

When I came back to the wing I saw one of the immigration ladies. I told the lady everything that happened. At 1 O clock, they wanted me to clean. And I was really upset. I went upstairs to clean, but I felt sad because, I felt the staff only wanted their own job to be done. They didn’t really care about me. You understand what I’m saying? They wanted me to clean. I was already upstairs, I went upstairs already and it was clean. And they were screaming my name and I didn’t really answer.

What I’m trying to say is that, most of these officers, they only really, really care about themselves. Honestly. They don’t really care about what you’re about to tell them.

________ Centre is a very dirty wing. Dirty cells. The cells are very dirty. Most of the cells had bed bugs. The cells are cold as well. During the winter time the cells were really, really freezing. I told them about the temperature as well and they keep saying they’ll come and do it and they never did it. Even during the summer time when it was so hot as well. A lot of us don’t have fans in our cells. When it’s boiling hot – there was no breeze.

Sometimes even you want a shower – you have to shower with hot water – you can’t choose which water you want. When you go to the shower – you can’t even shower with cold water. It just comes out hot – automatically. And when you shower the hot water you’re sweating more – so what’s the point of showering?! It’s just completely hot – it’s humid. We don’t even have a fridge at least for our drinks – just for it to be cold. When you buy your drink your drink is hot. When the room is hot there’s not even a fan.

They don’t find solutions to see how they can help people here. So sometimes when you’re depressed and stressed, it’s very difficult for you to find someone you can talk to.

The only thing that really cares about me is the mental health. Which were really good to me. And the education section as well was really, really good for me. One of the teachers that has really helped me to really, really move forward in my life and try to help me with the pain, depression, stress, was one of the teachers in the art class. She’s a really, really fantastic teacher. She has helped me a lot … really, really helped me a lot. Her name is _____. She has really, really helped me a lot, she is fantastic in here.

I felt like most of the officers here do not really care about us at all. One of the things that really upset me so much was during the coronavirus. They didn’t really care about if, you know, if we’re going to be sick they’re even not providing no masks for us. For our face – nothing. They didn’t give us no mask at that period. Nothing like that, even no anti-bacteria for our hands – nothing. You know? I really, really felt bad. The only time they were really stepping up was because they were going to have a visit – that’s when they started doing things.

I’ve been here for 8 months now. It’s unfair. They know I’ve got children. They know that I’ve been to jail and I’ve done my time and it’s just not fair. You know, keeping me here for no reason. They’ve kept me here for so long. Making me more stressed.

I don’t think that it’s really that healthy for a lot of us here. There’s a lot of people as well that have really got problems. And when they really try to speak to the officers – they laugh. I see them. We see them a lot. It’s like they use situation that we have to mock us – they talk behind our back and we see that – they laugh. If they’re there to help, they don’t want to help.

It’s just a couple of the officers – that are really, really good. But I’ll guarantee you that when you need to do something for yourself to know that you’re going to take care of yourself – the most – they don’t really care. When you try to tell them to help you with something, they don’t really care. You really have to put in so much effort for them to listen to you. So basically, if you tell them that ‘ah you know what, I’m not going to bang up – I’m not going to go into the cell’ – that’s when they want to take things very, very seriously. During the lock hours time – around 9 O clock – if you tell them that you don’t want to get banged up, then a few of the managers come – that’s when they want to listen to you. So it’s a lot of stress in this situation.

I’ve got a friend who stays here as well. Every day he’s been crying. Every day he just doesn’t want to stay here any more. He needs a ticket to go back to his country but … we can all see that it’s so stressful. Nobody wants to help him. Nobody wants to listen to him. Yesterday he called me and said that he’s not even gonna ‘lock’ – he’s not gonna go into his cell for him to be locked up because nobody wants to listen to him. He’s been in the centre now since about a few months, about 2 months now. And he’s been crying that he needs his ticket to go back, but they keep laughing at him, it’s like they’re mocking him. They don’t want to speak to him to help him. And yesterday he called me to say that he’s not going to go to his cell for the officers to lock him. Really late at 9pm. So he has to wait for the managers to come before they will speak to him. I just feel like a lot of things need to change in this place.

Even the food we eat – the food we eat here is sometimes – the fish we’re given to eat is not even proper cooked. You understand? Sometimes the rice we’re given is not even proper cooked so basically sometimes I have to buy canteen to even eat. Like today, most of the time, even, everyday I don’t even really eat the food. The only time I eat is in the night time like 8 hours I’ve been locked up that’s the only time I feel like I want to eat – because I can’t even eat the food. My cell right now that I’m in right now is very cold. Today feels very cold. Yesterday was really hot and stuffy. They don’t really take nothing really serious at all.

The only officers that are really there for me are ____ and the person who really helped me as well is in art, because I’ve never done art before, but I’ve learnt so much. She’s always told me that ‘don’t let your situation always put you down’. But when you try to talk to other officers they never take you serious.

I’m really upset as well that even my canteen that – mouse went into that they reimbursed me with £20 – none of the officers that I told about my situation has come up to me and said ‘you know what, we’re gonna make sure that we’ll pay you back the remaining money for your canteen.’ They never paid me! They never paid me back my money. I wrote every list down of the £20. I just smoke tobacco, and tobacco here costs £15. So what other food was included in it? Nothing. So that tells you that these people don’t really care. They don’t really care. Even for me to get that £20 I have to always tell them every day about my canteen. They left me 3 weeks without my food. It’s unfair. It’s really unfair. It’s just ridiculous in here, I’m telling you.

Even at the end of the day, when we go for bail, they said you’re gonna leave at this time. Like now, I was supposed to go to _______. They were going to provide an address in _______. They promised me I was going to go to _______ for my address. My lawyer said to me. She’s a fantastic lass she’s so hard working – I appreciate that I’ve got her as my lawyer. She worked so hard for me to get my accommodation. They give me accommodation in ________. She said to me last week I was going to get released. So the probation was supposed to approve the address. Now they’re calling me – she called me and said to me that the probation couldn’t approve the address because someone else has moved there. So why would immigration give me an address in ______ and said I was going to go to and now it’s cancelled.

So now I have to wait again – til next week. Now they put me in a situation that – I don’t even know the place that I’ll be going. At least I was happy because my kids – my children are in ______. Now all my heart was – at least I’m going _______. So why would they change and say ‘you know what – you’re going to a different place.’ I believe they’re doing this purposely just to make you more depressed which is not really good – it’s not nice. They shouldn’t be doing things like this. If they’re going to do something they should keep their word. You understand what I’m trying to say to you?

It’s just a bit stressful being here but, you know what, you just have to be strong. Very stressful. 8 months. I did my sentence about 9 months and I ended up staying extra 3 months. It’s unfair. 2 days I was gonna go home and immigration came for me. And they kept me in detention in jail for extra 3 months and bring me down here again. So in total I’ve stayed here about 10 months. I served my prison sentence – for 9 months. I finished that and after I finished that, they gave me an extra 3 months …. 2 days before I was going home they came for me. I was gonna get released here. I was gonna go out. I’ve been here since January. So it’s just a bit stressful and depressing. It’s really bad. It’s a long time. It’s a long time.

Please if any way you lot can help us, they should try and make sure that this place is a clean place for people to live. It’s not clean. There’s a lot of mouse infestation – bed bugs. I don’t know if it’s bed bugs but I noticed some biting on my body. The cells are dirty. Completely dirty. It’s tough in here. It’s really, really difficult.

You know Ms _____ – she’s fantastic – she always calls me every single week. She doesn’t need to be doing that but she calls me every time – what’s going on – what I need. If other officers can do it for me – I have to call Ms. ____ because she’ll sort it out for me. Even I have my engagement officer – she doesn’t even pick up her phone. It’s like they don’t care. I really needed her so much, you know, to speak to her. My engagement officer – they don’t really care. The phone was ringing and she doesn’t …. I have to call Ms. ______ they’re the one who will sort it out. Immigration needs to change. Just a few people in different departments who really care about you. I’m so lucky to have Ms. ______. I’m telling you. She’s been one of the backbones for me. She’s made it possible for me – when I’m stressed and depressed and I ring her – you know – she speaks to me – she makes sure that it’s done. I’m so grateful for everything she has done. I’m telling you the truth.

I’ve been here a while and once I’m out I’m just going to thank god that I’m out. Need to get a rest and just relax. I just can’t wait to see my kids because I really miss them so much. It’s been almost 3 years since I’ve seen them. I just can’t wait to see my family. I miss my children. I can’t wait to go out and be happy and see my children.

There are no flights going anywhere, we are in prison here

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There are no flights going anywhere, we are in prison here. Why aren’t they letting us go back to our families? They are releasing people with no address. I’ve gone an address, i’ve got my address to go to. Why go through bail again? Just releases us.

They keep pushing notes under the door saying its advised to keep two metres apart. Its impossible, unless they are going to lock us up and feed us one by one. People are coming to me to read out these notes cos they can’t read English. My English isn’t great so I could be making mistakes when I’m explaining it to them. I’m trying to explain it to them and keep the two metres apart while I’m doing it.

When you go for lunch there is a long queue, how you keeping two metres apart there? I’m not worried about the people in here I’m worried about the officers who are coming in and not getting tested.

An African man, been here 15months and suddenly he got sick. When the doctor come for him they were wearing facemarks and gloves and everything. If you got the virus you don’t know. They aren’t testing us. At the end of the day we aren’t prisoners, we are detainees. We can’t go anywhere. Paracetamol, paracetamol. That ain’t going to solve anything. You have to wait ages to see the doctor here, I understand when you’re outside, but in here man! If you want to see the Dr they don’t want to see you, they just say do it on the phone.

I’m scared to go outside. This is mental torture. I’m fed up, I’m fed up, I’m fed up. I’m so sad in here. We are all fed up. They are just telling us stories. Telling us things we need to hear. This is how everyone feels, not just me.

I’m getting a headache, I’m thinking too much.

If i was on the outside id be happy to share my story. But in here they would punish me.

It’s really hostile right now

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What is the situation like inside?

It’s really hostile right now. The thing is I’m confused as to what’s going to happen and the officers, basically, they’re clueless as well, they don’t know what’s going to happen. There’s a lot of confusion inside. For example: There’s a guy, they told him that he’s been released, then all of a sudden, he don’t have a caseworker, so they’re giving people false information.

And then when people are acting out you want to be putting them in the block and they changed, they said, they’re trying to close down the gym, the mosque, the church, and all of these things, the pool table, all of these things, they don’t want no gathering kind of thing. But before that, they put more tables on each wings, put two people in a cell, in a room together. And trying to put everyone together. And I was saying to them “That’s not right, because if one person gets it, everyone’s gonna have it. And you lot are putting people’s rights at risk because no one inside can catch it because we’re not seeing anyone.

They’ve stopped all visits now. That’s a no-no. So the only person you can catch it from is the officers.

Have deportation flight stopped or are people still being issued tickets?

Sunday just gone, I knew they had a flight out, but I’m not quite sure where. I knew they had a flight to Poland I think yesterday or the day before but that got cancelled.

Do you know if anyone has been taken out of detention because of the virus?

Not personally, but there was a few people there that we haven’t seen or heard from, they kind of kept it on the D-low kind of thing.

What’s the process if people develop symptoms inside?

Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t know what their protocol is for that.

Regardless of the situation, if they’re following everything, if they’re trying to say they’re following what the government says, half the things that they’re doing inside now is wrong. So if they follow what the government is saying, they should take that person to one side, get him tested sooner rather than later, and if all those tests come back and he’s not positive then fair enough. But we don’t know… I don’t know what step they would take for that as yet.

Are people being tested?

No, I think they’re isolating them.

What has your experience been like? How have things changed?

My experience. When I first arrived it was because I was one of the people that they said had a charter flight. So it was nerve-wracking. And then when the flight got cancelled, they didn’t tell no one, they did not let anybody know whatsoever. No one. So everyone was just there up until this day, it was today they called me and said, “you’re being released”. That’s it. They don’t let you know nothing. The way they go about things I think is wrong. Holding someone there for however long, not letting them know, if you go to court, they’re telling you “they’ve got a flight that’s imminent”. I mean, what is imminent? Imminent could be in 6 months, 1 year, 2 years. What is imminent? You have people there for years. Years. And you’re not releasing anyone, you don’t have a reason why you’re keeping them there, so why don’t you release them on certain conditions.

The next thing I don’t understand is, if they’ve got someone that’s signing on and that’s on tag, what’s the need for you to be taking them back into detention? And they don’t have a flight that’s imminent?

And the way they’re going about things as well, say for instance, you’ve appealed your case and they don’t let you know in advance like “okay we’re dismissing your case” and the reason why they’re dismissing your case. Because they told me, they turned down my appeal because my family ties was not real. How are you going to tell me, me, my wife and my child, that’s not real? What can I go and borrow someone’s child? The way they go about things is stupid.

They have people working in there who are not helping you whatsoever. You’ve got a doctor in there, when you go to him, he’s not listening to you, he’s writing information on your paperwork, it’s like he’s working for the Home Office. He’s not there to help. I don’t understand, why are you working in here? You’re meant to be a doctor, you’re meant to be finding out the reason, you can’t be treating everyone, everyone’s got a different problem, a different illness, but you’re treating everyone the same. “Everyone’s depressed, you want anti-depressants or all of these sleeping tablets”. No, not everyone’s got the same problem, they’re forcing things on people.

Are people being released?

People are being released. But they said a few hundred, I haven’t seen a few hundred. Today is the first that I’ve seen 8 people, yesterday there was 2, today there was 8. Maybe it’s getting better… I don’t know. No yesterday there was none. Monday there was 2. People were going to court yesterday, and then they found out they didn’t have any court. They’re still there up until now.

Is there anything else you’d like to say?

Apart from the healthcare in there is rubbish, the Home Office lack of information. When you ask a question they don’t get back to you. They give you a letter, you can apply for status, but me personally, I waited for a whole month and I had to go to them and ask them, the same day, they said they refused it. And they received something saying that I had a flight that was imminent. What is imminent? And the caseworkers that they give people… I’ve got a caseworker that lives in Liverpool. I’ve never spoke to my caseworker. Not once. My caseworker don’t know me from nowhere. And every single thing I ask my caseworker, she said “no.” Every single thing. You name it. They’ve said no to it.

The system is not fair on anyone. There’s a no win. You can’t win.

They need to have guidelines that you can go off. Not picking and choosing, who and why or how many.

I put in for a JR and within an hour or so, they’re saying my JR was refused. What are the guidelines they go through? What measures did they take? What did they look at? What don’t they look at? I don’t understand. Those are things I would like to know.

I done 14 months for robbery for a mobile phone. Me and a friend, basically, I was trying to stop my friend from getting into an argument with an ex-friend and he went to the police and we stole them, we took their phones. That’s that. I was on tag before I went to jail and I only done about 6 weeks. 2 months. Then they put me in a detention centre and I got bail from the detention centre, this was back in 2012 I think it was. Since then, immigration and my caseworker, I had my indefinite leave to remain, that got taken away from me. Everything I’ve put into my casework at the Home Office, they’ve declined it. They told me that, my mum, my brother, my sister, and my dad, that I came into this country with are not my family, they’re not my immediate family. They also told me, my medical condition that I have is okay. I suffer from chronic headaches, and I blackout, I was previously been running tests on my heart and my head and because I’ve been back mostly in detention, they change your hospital appointments each time you come, so your family or you don’t know when you’re going. When you do get released you have to wait, because under the neurology part it takes 6 months to a year a for the doctor to see you, this is kind of a difficult procedure. So all of that has gotten mixed up throughout the time. It’s been real, real difficult trying to take care, and get medical help. I don’t know. I know that I pass out randomly, anytime anywhere, you name it, I’ve done it.

Not everyone falls under the criteria [of asylum] because some people use it just to get out. The people that are genuinely, literally, genuinely need to seek asylum, they just look at it. Not everyone suits that criteria. They need to check out these people’s stories, see if it’s genuine. If they’ve got scars to prove it, if they have family that has been in the same situation. They need to, basically, ask for more information, go about it a different way. Because I’ve been here since I was 11 years old and I haven’t been back to Jamaica. They killed my cousins and our family member. I even got a medical condition that they don’t give two shits about.

I’ve passed out several times in the detention centre and my friend and my missus was on the phone and they were all telling me ‘get up’ kicking me, telling me to ‘get up’ and these are meant to be people that’s working in the detention centre with the NHS. Things like that are not right because regardless of the situation, if I would have known that, that they were doing these things to me, I would have then flipped out if I was not in a vulnerable state. And then that would have made it look bad for me. I black out and I don’t know nothing. I pass out.

Sunday just gone, I passed out and I dislocated my shoulder in my room. I didn’t know my shoulder was dislocated or anything. In the morning I was taking Ibuprofen every 4 hours and it’s wearing off every 3 hours and I have to wait to take it back again. I was in so much pain, I did not think calling them to find out and asking them for healthcare would do me any justice because they don’t really care. It’s not what they’re telling people, what they’re putting out to the public is not the same treatment that you’re getting. When I went to healthcare I saw a nurse and a doctor that was working in mental health and it’s only then that nurse, she started doing her job properly, and she asked “how did you dislocate your shoulder?” and I was like “I think I passed out because I can’t remember how or why it happened” and then she went through asking questions and running tests on me. Then she went to speak to her manager, the manager came in and she started assessing me and then the doctor came in and put my shoulder back in and he said “I’m going to send you to the hospital to get an x-ray”. Even now I still need to do physiotherapy on my shoulder and I need to get that sorted out but I don’t know how I’m going to do that now because of the whole corona thing. So I don’t know how I’m going to go about that, I need to find out.

Since I’ve been there, I’ve been there since the 28th of January till today and that was the first time I talked to someone in healthcare and they were absolutely doing their job. That’s the first, the first, and I’m not exaggerating, the first time I think I literally got genuine help from someone. And if they had more staff like those two ladies in there, like, brilliant, brilliant, thumbs up, all day everyday but if they’re making you speak to the doctor like I was spoken to the first time I got there, no way you’re getting help, you could be dying, and they tell you to just take paracetamol or they can give you something stronger, co-codamol, without listening to you.

I’ve done a rule 35, genuinely I’m putting for asylum, a genuine case, I don’t need to fabricate nothing, I don’t need to lie about anything about what happened in my past and they, he, done a rule 35, he was meant to refer me to mental health and he done nothing. I told him, “could he up my doses for my medication?” he’s like “no” the only thing he could do is give me paracetamol and Ibuprofen for my headache, where my head’s hurting. I was like “Ibuprofen, paracetamol do not work for me, this is not a now issue, this an ongoing issue for the last 10 years” or more. He’s not understanding that, he don’t care. I said it to the managers, I’m like “listen, I really don’t like the way this doctor is treating me if he’s treating me like that, I don’t want to know about anything else”. And then I spoke to a couple other detainees, they go to him, me and two other guys got there and saw him, all we wanted to do is turn back, because we know that we’re not getting no help whatsoever. A lot of people feeling like that. There’s no help. And these are meant to be people that’s meant to be helping you.

There is no social distancing here

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Can you tell me about your experience of detention?

I have been in Brook House detention centre for 16 months. I came from prison. I thought I was going to be released but then they brought me here to brook house. I was given a mobile phone, there was a tv and so everything felt better at the start. And then after 6 months I started getting bored and I start stressing about my life and day by day.

3 months ago in November, I had been a year. I started tripping. My hand started sweating, I couldn’t sleep and I felt hot. There was something I hadn’t felt before. I couldn’t get the thoughts of getting me out of this place out of my head. It was like this one year of detention was building up in my head, and exploded in my mind. It was the sort of experience I had never had before. It was something in me that felt like that. I tried everything, sleeping on the floor but nothing was working. They gave me paracetamol and some medicine called calms. And since that day, I am not the same person. Now small things really get to me. My short term memory is shot. Some old term memory is cloudy and dazy.

How have things changed since the coronavirus outbreak?

2 weeks ago they put two people in isolation. I heard from a good officer that I have known for long time. He told me that they are in there and they are suffering but they weren’t getting tested. There was another guy, who was serving food to us who got suddenly taken away. It was two days ago when they grabbed him. They were wearing white clothes and a mask on their faces and blue gloves when they moved them out. He could have spread it to everybody and this made everyone scared.

They are not doing any tests here. There are not testing  any one. So they don’t know if there is a virus on not. The officers who are working in isolation are wearing full body suits. Some officers on the wings are wearing face masks and gloves.

If I feel like I have symptoms (and I do all the all time) I am not going to tell them because if you do, they will take you to the block, to solitary confinement. They won’t test you, and they will leave you there. They don’t want these officers to find out that there is a virus outbreak here. A lot of people feel like they are ill in here. People are not feeling well, they are coughing and they are scared.

There is a meeting today with the home office – they have to do something. We are not animals you know. We need to be tested. Either they should let us out or do something to protect us. They can’t remove us to other countries because other countries will not take us. The government is not doing anything and they are still bringing people into detention. Yesterday they brought new people.

Outside, they are saying that people shouldn’t be close to each other. But here we can’t do anything about it. There are loads of people the tv room, in the garden. There is no social distancing here. No one knows who has got the virus. There are people coughing. I wish you had some sort of drone to see how many people are in the yard.

6 days ago they closed down the church, the mosques and other religious rooms where people congregate. There are less officers around the centre at the moment. Having less officers means there are less wings open and there are less officers on the wing. Which means you have to wait in order to leave the wing to go to the computer room for example.

How has it affected you?

The other day there was a protest. People refused to go to their wings in the evening. They were calling to be tested.

But I didn’t want to be involved as I had got bail. I have been given bail in principle but I have no address to go to so I have to stay here. My bail is going to run out tomorrow then I have to apply again.

It feels like I am on remand. I am in this space but without a sentence. Hopefully they do something. They have forgot about us, it’s like we don’t exist.