Detained immigrants and prisoners do not get the option to socially isolate during the coronavirus crisis

Italy has shown us that there are many in society who simply can't keep themselves safe during the pandemic, and we should remember them

Michela Mossetto
Sunday 22 March 2020 14:41 GMT
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The Covid-19 crisis will affect all of our lives, for many it already has. But, as with all crises, it’s those at the margins who will suffer most.

There are many more authoritative sources telling us how serious this is, and the action we should be taking to contain its impact. Instead, this is a pledge not to close ourselves inwards, not to react with "each for themselves", but to respond to this crisis with togetherness and take action. It’s also a call not to forget about those amongst us who, even in simpler times, do not have a choice at all.

I work in a law firm that represents people held in immigration detention, refugee children and families, but also prisoners. The people we represent are often, for want of a better word, at the margins. I am Italian, and as many would have seen, the hashtag #iorestoacasa (‘I stay at home’) has swept through the country in these weeks of total lockdown.

Here in the UK, we’re not there (or not yet), but those who are detained don’t have the luxury of choosing; they cannot return to or stay in their homes. For them, the coronavirus crisis will mean not just the uncertainty and separation from loved ones they live every day, but also – in the event of an outbreak – being confined to a cell, with little or no access to proper healthcare, some time 24 hours a day.

In the year ending in June 2019, over 24,000 people were detained in immigration detention, with an average of 2,000 detained at any one time. Whatever your thoughts on immigration detention are, being locked up under immigration powers at this time seems utterly senseless.

Many of those detained are asylum seekers and refugees, many more are vulnerable, and many indeed are detained unlawfully. Last year, the Home Office paid out £8.2 million in compensation to people who had been detained unlawfully under immigration powers. When resources are scarce and the threat generated by the virus is, as the government themselves recognise, “high”, it becomes harder still to justify those powers.

Ten organisations working with detainees have signed a letter calling the government to release people held in immigration detention to prevent loss of life and in the interest of public health (see press release by Detention Action). A legal challenge is also being prepared to stop new detentions, some deportations and release those most at risk.

In Italy, after the lockdown was announced, riots broke out in prisons all over the country; 12 prisoners died. Not of Coronavirus, but either of overdoses or causes yet to be ascertained connected with the riots. These were panic riots, of people who cannot panic-buy, cannot wash their hands more often or live in cleaner and more hygienic environments. The government in the UK is drawing up an emergency plan to avoid disruption in prisons. It will have to factor in the fact that UK prisons are overcrowded and most do not have adequate healthcare facilities.

Many people released from prison, particularly from short sentences, do not have a place to go and homelessness certainly increases risk in these circumstances. Again, those people cannot “stay at home”. They also often rely on foodbanks, which have already been affected by a drop in donations from individuals, as well as shops on low stock as a result of people buying large quantities of basic foods and household essentials.

If that all sounds pretty grim, there is one thing Covid-19 cannot take away from us. And it’s action. The wellbeing of a society should be measured by that of those at its margins, as a true reflection of solidarity and empathy, but also unity. At a time that makes one doubt the very premises of modern life, we are, undoubtedly, better together (if at a distance).

So please, stop panic buying, and accumulating toilet paper as if there was no tomorrow (or, as many Italian friends have suggested, consider having a shower instead, in the absence of the precious bidet!). There will be enough for everyone if we don’t give in to panic. Donate to food banks if you can, because for people who cannot buy, there is already not enough. Sign up for one of the many support groups which have admirably already sprung up all across the country to support the elderly, vulnerable and those who have no other help available.

Support organisations campaigning for the release of immigration detainees and write to your MP. And, not least, sing from the balconies, as Italians have shown us to do. We may need to stay in, but let’s look out; and show this virus what this wonderful place can do.

Michela Mossetto is writing in a personal capacity and her views are her own.

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