Paper short abstract:

not used

Paper long abstract:

The UK detains indefinitely asylum seekers and other foreigners who cannot be deported. Many are stateless and may never be able to return to their countries of origin. As a result many are detained for years, at dramatic cost to their mental health.

Immigration detainees with criminal convictions are perceived as "bad" immigrants whose rights can be disregarded. As a result, the UK can arbitrarily deprive them of their liberty for periods of years, with little wider debate. Yet many are stateless and simply unable to return to their countries of origin. Others are from countries that are too dangerous for deportations to take place. In many cases their convictions arose from their marginalisation, as for example with asylum seekers convicted of working illegally.

This paper explores the phenomenon of indefinite detention without time-limit from the perspective of detainees. In-depth interviews were held with 24 people detained for more than a year, to explore the human impact of this practice. The interviews focused in particular on detainees' interaction with the bureaucratic machinery of detention policy, e.g. decision-makers and bail hearings. Quantitative analysis was conducted on 188 case files of London Detainee Support Group clients detained for more than a year, in order to investigate the extent to which indefinite detention effectively serves its stated goal of facilitating deportation.

The research found that only 18% of these detainees had been deported. More than half remained in detention, despite the remote likelihood of deportation taking place. They had been detained for a total of 318 years. Interviewees reported dramatic deteriorations in their mental health, including hearing voices, suicide attempts and self-harm.

Wider debate is necessary over the normalisation of the indefinite detention of foreign ex-offenders. Are basic rights dependent on either citizenship on the one hand, or good behaviour on the other? Where does this leave refused asylum seekers who are excluded from work and mainstream forms of social participation?