Fears were growing on Sunday for the wellbeing of a group of women entering the third week of a hunger strike at Yarl’s Wood immigration removal center.
Doctors warned that about 20 detainees, who say they have not eaten for 17 days, are entering a critical phase of their protest and risk doing long-term damage to their health.
The hunger strike started two-and-a-half weeks ago when more than 50 women at the center in Bedford, north of London, refused food in protest at their indefinite detention. They also claim they have been victims of racial and physical abuse.
On Sunday, one of the women, Victoria Odeleye, said up to 30 detainees were still refusing food.
“We are weak and tired, but we are still going to continue because people need to know what is happening here,” said the 32-year-old who moved to the UK from Nigeria six years ago.
“We need our cases looking at. I have a little girl and am not a criminal but I have been locked up in here for 15 months and no one can tell me when that will change,” she said.
The protests come amid calls for an independent inquiry into conditions at the detention center following a critical report by the Children’s Commissioner last week and further allegations of mistreatment by detainees.
Adeola Omotosho, who was involved in the protests before being released last week, said: “At times they call us black monkey, they call us different names. Any lady who refused to be deported, what they did is beat her.”
Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrats’ home affairs spokesman, said: “The reports that came out of Yarl’s Wood last week painted a bleak picture of the conditions and treatment of women held there.”
“We need to know the truth about the conditions of inmates and about how long people are being detained for. It is simply unacceptable to incarcerate women with young children for long periods of time when other countries have already pioneered more civilized alternatives such as tagging,” he said.
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