On Saturday 28 December 2024, human rights campaigners will gather to protest the ongoing operation of Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre (IRC), which has been detaining vulnerable women for three years. The protest will mark this grim anniversary with a three-hour blockade of the centre’s entrance and exit, symbolising the three years of harm caused by unnecessary and inhumane detention at the centre. Campaigners will hold banners bearing the following words:
- “Unable to leave? Feeling trapped? That’s life every day for the women locked inside.”
- “3 years of imprisonment. 3 hours of disruption.”
The purpose of the protest
The action seeks to disrupt operations at the IRC while urging reflection among staff and authorities about the ongoing injustices of immigration detention.
This protest is part of a long-standing campaign led by No to Hassockfield, a group of dedicated human rights campaigners who have mobilised against Derwentside IRC since before it opened in December 2021. For over three years, the campaigners have maintained a regular presence outside the facility, holding monthly demonstrations to protest its existence and demand its closure. This consistent action serves several critical purposes:
- Raising awareness: By engaging with the local community, campaigners shine a light on the reality of immigration detention and the suffering it causes to women held inside Derwentside IRC.
- Showing solidarity: Through noisy and visible protest, campaigners send a clear message of support to the women imprisoned within, letting them know that people are fighting for their freedom.
- Calling for accountability: By protesting directly at the site, No to Hassockfield sends a strong message to Serco, the private company running the IRC, and to politicians who uphold the UK’s detention policies.
Campaigners have vowed to continue their protests until Derwentside IRC is closed for good.
Report by the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB)
The protest comes in the wake of a critical report by the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), published in July 2024, which raised serious concerns about the treatment of women detained at Derwentside IRC. Key findings from the report include:
- The IRC’s isolated and remote location hinders detainees’ ability to access legal and family support.
- Many women detained at the centre are vulnerable and suffer from mental health issues, yet they endure frequent and lengthy transfers, often at night, which heighten anxiety and disorientation.
- Women have been detained beyond their authorised release dates, sometimes for months, due to delays in finding suitable accommodation.
- Two years after opening, critical facilities such as care suites for suicide prevention remain unavailable, leaving women at risk of self-harm under constant supervision in residential units.
- The provision for education and other purposeful activities has been reduced to a level the IMB deemed inadequate.
The IMB described the treatment of women at Derwentside as, in some respects, inhumane and questioned the centre’s overall suitability as a detention facility. Jane Leech MBE, Chair of the IMB, stated:
“Many of the women detained there – without a legal time limit – are vulnerable and some will have been trafficked. And yet they are subjected to lengthy and frequent journeys, sometimes at night, which can cause increased anxiety and disorientation. In our view, the way women are moved around the estate risks increasing the harmful effects of detention.”
“Nothing short of a prison system”
Campaigners stress the severe psychological toll of indefinite detention. Many of the women held at Derwentside IRC have already experienced significant trauma, including trafficking, so detention serves to exacerbate their suffering. The lack of a legal time limit on detention further intensifies the uncertainty and despair felt by detainees.
Emma Pearson from No To Hassockfield says:
“Immigration detention is nothing short of a prison system—but with one crucial difference: people in prisons know when they will be released. In detention, there is no such luxury. The UK is the only country in Western Europe to detain people without a time limit, a policy that is as unnecessary as it is cruel. This practice has no place in a humane immigration system or in a democratic and free society.
“Detention does not even serve its stated purpose. Most people detained are eventually released back into UK communities, proving that their imprisonment is completely unnecessary. There are proven, more humane alternatives to detention that are also far more cost-effective for taxpayers.
“We refuse to look the other way while the state locks people up and brutalises them simply for wanting to live freely – people who are fleeing danger or trying to rebuild their lives. As long as this cruely endures, so will our resistance.
“I am incredibly proud of this campaign and what we’ve achieved over the past three years. We’re now a powerful and growing network of thousands of activists supporters challenging immigration detention. While Derwentside IRC has not yet closed, we have built a movement of compassion and solidarity that will only grow stronger until the walls come down.
“Today is both a sombre reflection on three years of unnecessary trauma and a celebration of the incredible strength we have built together. Our fight is fueled by the unwavering support of family, friends, fellow campaigners, and most importantly, the resistance and resilience of the women inside Derwentside. The fight continues.”
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