This week the Home Office starts sending more migrants to Napier army barracks in Kent
openDemocracy talks to former residents about the grim conditions. Their stories will shock you.
#closethebarracks https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/i-feared-i-would-die-life-inside-the-napier-barracks-asylum-seeker-housing/">https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opende...
openDemocracy talks to former residents about the grim conditions. Their stories will shock you.
#closethebarracks https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/i-feared-i-would-die-life-inside-the-napier-barracks-asylum-seeker-housing/">https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opende...
& #39;The barracks were selected because more & #39;generous& #39; accommodation would & #39;undermine public confidence in the asylum system& #39;& #39;
& #39;they& #39;re not supposed to be detained. In theory, their accommodation should allow them outside at any time. But even pre-COVID, residents lived with security guards on the gates, a barbed-wire fence around the perimeter, a curfew, and were only allowed out for 2 hours at a time& #39;
& #39;a third of respondents at Napier said they had felt suicidal, with people at high risk of self-harm put in a dilapidated “isolation block” considered “unfit for habitation& #39;
& #39;Ethan contracted COVID whilst he was there. Patel blamed the migrants for “mingling”, but Ethan says “It was impossible to practice social distancing. We were still sharing a bedroom with so many people who had tested negative.”& #39;
& #39;Portrayed in home office briefings as stopping migrants “being housed in hotels”, Patel’s plans appear to go much further, and to entrench the long-term use of this type of barracks-style “basic” accommodation.& #39;
& #39;The contractor running the Napier barracks, Clearsprings, has not responded to any of the allegations in this article. The firm has a long & troubled history of providing accommodation for asylum seekers, alongside other firms. It won a fresh 10-year contract in September 2019& #39;
Read more about life at Napier Barracks, and how Britain treats people fleeing persecution and war > https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/i-feared-i-would-die-life-inside-the-napier-barracks-asylum-seeker-housing/">https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opende...