Yarl's Wood has been called a 'place of national concern' in a report by the prison watchdog. In the second of a new series, Radhika Sanghani hears from a 22-year-old female detainee about how bad life really is inside
Efie* had been in the UK for several months, volunteering with a learning disabilities charity. When her placement came to an end she went back to her native country of Ghana.
She expected a happy reunion with her family. Instead, she was taken to meet the man her father had arranged for her to marry - without her knowledge.
Efie was just 22, but the man was 57. He already had three wives and she was expected to be his fourth.
Her family tried to force her into the union, but Efie escaped. With the help of the Belfast-based charity she’d been working with, she managed to flee and come back to the UK.
“I didn’t know what to do,” she tells me, now aged 24. “I didn’t want to be forced into the marriage. But when I got here, I still wanted a relationship with my family so I was trying to speak to them. At my age it’s hard to lose your family and I was alone.
“I tried to communicate with them but it didn’t work. My father started to threaten me in emails. He said you’d better kill yourself before I kill you. I thought I’m going to lose my life if I go home. I really do think they would kill me.”
At that point Efie decided to claim asylum in the UK. She made the appropriate appointments with the Home Office and began reporting-in every month.
Until one day, in September last year, when she went for her regular meeting and was told she was going to be deported.
A security guard stands at the gates of the the Yarl's Wood Immigration Centre near Bedford Getty Images
“I was terrified. They drove me to the airport but it was stopped last minute,” she explains. “So I was taken to Yarl’s Wood.”
Yarl’s Wood detention centre is a facility that mainly houses female immigrants and asylum seekers. It has a reputation for being one of the worst centres in Britain – to the point where the chief inspector of prisons recently called it ‘a place of national concern’.
“Hell must be better than that place,” says Efie. “You’re not a criminal but you’re treated like one. I was just there because I came to the UK to save my life. I hadn’t done anything wrong. I hated it there.”
Efie has long suffered from mental health problems. She was diagnosed with depression before going into Yarl’s Wood and was on antidepressants when she was sent there. She says her condition seriously deteriorated inside the detention centre.
“I didn’t get any help. I didn’t see a counsellor. I just didn’t know what life was anymore. Most of the time I hit myself. It was all just too much for me.”
After being inside the centre for several weeks, she tried to kill herself.
“I jumped down the stairs. I couldn’t take it anymore. There was no reason for me to live if I was going to die when I got home. It’s better to die here. At least they’d bury me here. At home no one will take my dead body.”
Thankfully she survived the fall, and was not seriously injured. But a psychiatrist told her she needed urgent counselling.
Efie ended up staying in Yarl’s Wood for another five months, only leaving in February this year.
The counselling never materialised.
Instead she was put on suicide watch, meaning guards followed her around constantly. Female guards would come into the bathroom with her; while male guards would come into her room, at hourly intervals, throughout the night.
“I didn’t have any privacy,” she says. “Sometimes they’d shout and could be very aggressive. It all made me feel worse.”
She says that the healthcare system was awful – for other medical problems, too.
“Even for other problems when you say you have pains, they tell you you’re lying and making it up because of your immigration status.”
She says she once went to the healthcare specialist on site after finding it painful to urinate. “I had stomach pains and I would pee blood. They found the blood in my pee, did tests and said I needed a scan.
“I was terrified. They drove me to the airport but it was stopped last minute,” she explains. “So I was taken to Yarl’s Wood.”
Yarl’s Wood detention centre is a facility that mainly houses female immigrants and asylum seekers. It has a reputation for being one of the worst centres in Britain – to the point where the chief inspector of prisons recently called it ‘a place of national concern’.
“Hell must be better than that place,” says Efie. “You’re not a criminal but you’re treated like one. I was just there because I came to the UK to save my life. I hadn’t done anything wrong. I hated it there.”
Efie has long suffered from mental health problems. She was diagnosed with depression before going into Yarl’s Wood and was on antidepressants when she was sent there. She says her condition seriously deteriorated inside the detention centre.
“I didn’t get any help. I didn’t see a counsellor. I just didn’t know what life was anymore. Most of the time I hit myself. It was all just too much for me.”
After being inside the centre for several weeks, she tried to kill herself.
“I jumped down the stairs. I couldn’t take it anymore. There was no reason for me to live if I was going to die when I got home. It’s better to die here. At least they’d bury me here. At home no one will take my dead body.”
Thankfully she survived the fall, and was not seriously injured. But a psychiatrist told her she needed urgent counselling.
Efie ended up staying in Yarl’s Wood for another five months, only leaving in February this year.
The counselling never materialised.
Instead she was put on suicide watch, meaning guards followed her around constantly. Female guards would come into the bathroom with her; while male guards would come into her room, at hourly intervals, throughout the night.
“I didn’t have any privacy,” she says. “Sometimes they’d shout and could be very aggressive. It all made me feel worse.”
She says that the healthcare system was awful – for other medical problems, too.
“Even for other problems when you say you have pains, they tell you you’re lying and making it up because of your immigration status.”
She says she once went to the healthcare specialist on site after finding it painful to urinate. “I had stomach pains and I would pee blood. They found the blood in my pee, did tests and said I needed a scan.
An image of the bedrooms in Yarl's Wood. Photo: yarlswood.co.uk
“But they said they didn’t have enough escorts to take me to the hospital, so I had to wait. The scan never happened. I just stopped drinking water, so I didn’t pee.”
A Home Office spokesman said: "Working with our partners, we want to make sure standards in the centre improve, especially regarding the provision and delivery of healthcare.
"We are committed to treating all detainees with dignity and respect. We aim to protect the health and wellbeing of those we are detaining at all times, so we are pleased that this report finds that 80 percent of detainees surveyed said staff treated them with respect."
He added they will review the report of Yarl's Wood, and take action where appropriate.
Efie is finally out of Yarl’s Wood and living in Belfast. But she has no idea what will happen to her in the future and is still dealing with her depression. Her suicidal urges have passed now she’s not being detained, and she is hoping to get professional help.
“I just hope for the best. I don’t really even care that much anymore because there’s no life for me. I don’t want to get close to my family because I don’t know what they’ll do to me next. But hopefully, I don’t know, something good will happen.”
*Efie's name has been changed to protect her identity
Telegraph UK
“But they said they didn’t have enough escorts to take me to the hospital, so I had to wait. The scan never happened. I just stopped drinking water, so I didn’t pee.”
A Home Office spokesman said: "Working with our partners, we want to make sure standards in the centre improve, especially regarding the provision and delivery of healthcare.
"We are committed to treating all detainees with dignity and respect. We aim to protect the health and wellbeing of those we are detaining at all times, so we are pleased that this report finds that 80 percent of detainees surveyed said staff treated them with respect."
He added they will review the report of Yarl's Wood, and take action where appropriate.
Efie is finally out of Yarl’s Wood and living in Belfast. But she has no idea what will happen to her in the future and is still dealing with her depression. Her suicidal urges have passed now she’s not being detained, and she is hoping to get professional help.
“I just hope for the best. I don’t really even care that much anymore because there’s no life for me. I don’t want to get close to my family because I don’t know what they’ll do to me next. But hopefully, I don’t know, something good will happen.”
*Efie's name has been changed to protect her identity
Telegraph UK
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