I am running the Hackney Half in May to raise money for Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID).

BID assists thousands of immigration detainees in the UK in applying for bail by providing free legal advice, information and representation. It also carries out research, policy advocacy and strategic litigation, with the aim of ending immigration detention in the UK.

If you feel that asylum seekers and migrants in the UK have a right to liberty and access to justice, please consider donating so that BID can continue this work.

Immigration detention is the practice of confining people who are subject to immigration control in secure facilities for immigration purposes. This includes people who have completed prison sentences, as well as people who have never committed crimes.

The immigration detention system in the UK is harsh and cruel. Foreign nationals are deprived of their liberty in prisons or prison-like facilities without trial and with no set release date.

The Home Office regularly detains people who are particularly vulnerable to severe mental and physical health deterioration while in detention, such as victims of trafficking and modern slavery, persons with severe mental health problems, and persons with disabilities.

The torment and lack of care that detainees are subjected to is evident. Home Office data has shown that between January 2018 and 30 September 2023 there were 1,743 self-harm and suicide attempts so serious that they required medical treatment, across four immigration removal centres: Brook House and Tinsley House near Gatwick airport, Heathrow, and Yarl’s Wood in Bedfordshire.*

No human is illegal, and no one should be deprived of their liberty due to their immigration status.

*Data obtained from the Home Office by the Scottish Refugee Council using freedom of information laws and shared with the Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/27/self-harm-incident-nearly-every-day-in-uk-immigration-detention-data-shows