INSIDE IMMIGRATION DETENTION INSIDE IMMIGRATION DETENTION MARY BOSWORTH 1 1 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, ox2 6dp, United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries © M Bosworth, 2014 The moral rights of the author have been asserted First Edition published in 2014 Impression: 1 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. 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For my parents, Richard and Michal Bosworth Acknowledgements This project has benefited from the assistance and support of a range of peo- ple. Above all, I owe a great debt to the women and men in the detention centres who participated in the project, filling out surveys, chatting, and generally engaging with me, even when they were enduring a period of great uncertainty and sorrow, or were busy at work. I could not have completed the study without Blerina Kellezi and Gavin Slade who conducted significant parts of the fieldwork in Tinsley House, Yarl’s Wood, and Morton Hall. Alison Liebling, Ben Crewe, and John Dring gave early advice that proved vital in gaining access, while Jim Gomersall, Walter McGowan, Jamie Bennett, Alex Sweeney, Paul Morrison, Michael Guy, Victoria Colloby, Dawn Elaine, James Wilkinson, Karen Head, and Marie Walker opened the doors of their establishments. At the Home Office, Alan Kittle and Karen Abdel-Hady offered key sup- port from the outset, while Jonathan Nanceville-Smith, Duncan Partridge, Simon Edwards, and Helen Morgan each facilitated various parts of the research. I am fortunate in those whom I work alongside at Oxford. Carolyn Hoyle, Lucia Zedner, Inês Hasselberg, and Sarah Turnbull have offered not just ideas but glasses of wine when needed, while a number of my stu- dents, some of whom have gone onto academic positions of their own, or are just about to, have provided intellectual inspiration and research assis- tance. Thank you Emma Kaufman, Ana Aliverti, Bonnie Ernst, Sophie Eser, Emily Ross, Lea Sitkin, and Michelle Miao. I have benefited from discussions with colleagues some of whom read and commented on draft chapters and related articles including Katja Aas, Ana Aliverti, Vanessa Barker, Ben Bradford, Mina Fazel, Andriani Fili, Matthew Gibney, Alex Hall, Nick Gill, Ambrose Lee, Ian Loader, Dominique Moran, Coretta Philips, Sharon Pickering, Emma Plugge, Marie Segrave, Imogen Tyler, Thomas Ugelvik, Leanne Weber, and Lucia Zedner. Those who have read whole drafts of the manuscript deserve viii Acknowledgements special thanks: Jamie Bennett, Hindpal Singh Bhui, Sophie Eser, Emma Kaufman, and Sarah Turnbull. I appreciate also the advice and assistance of Luigi Gariglio who selected the cover image from a number of photo- graphs I had taken in IRC Colnbrook. The book and the fieldwork on which it is based would not have been possible without generous financial support from a number of insti- tutions. In 2009, the Nuffield Foundation, under their small grants scheme (‘Understanding Immigration Detention: A qualitative analy- sis, SGS/37597’), covered the costs of the first months of fieldwork, while the national study was supported by a 2010–12 British Academy Research Development Award BR100060, and by a 2010–11 research award from the University of Oxford John Fell OUP Research Fund (‘Understanding Immigration Detention, 092/233’), that paid for a two-year part time research officer (Dr Blerina Kellezi). The writing-up occurred during my 2012–17 European Research Council Starting Grant 313362, ‘Subjectivity, Identity and Penal Power’. Throughout, I have benefited from teach- ing relief, administrative, and technical support from the Centre for Criminology and the Faculty of Law at the University of Oxford. For all of this assistance, I am very grateful. Finally, my family has borne the brunt of my labour on this project since 2009 and helped me through the hard parts. Anthony, Ella, and Sophia have provided respite, love, and welcome distraction. My parents, Richard and Michal Bosworth, not only did many ‘after school pick ups’, but also subedited the final draft of the manuscript despite being busy on writing projects of their own, catching and castigating me for my unclear jargon, unintended Americanisms, and ‘floating phrases’. In so doing they have greatly improved the text. I thank them and dedicate this book to them. Mary Bosworth Contents List of illustrations xi List of abbreviations xiii Introduction: Inside immigration detention 1 1. The historical development of immigration detention in Britain 21 2. Understanding immigration detention 52 3. Recognition and belonging in an age of deportation 86 4. Everyday life in detention 109 5. The detention community 136 6. Uncertainty, identity, and power in detention 161 7. Ambivalence and estrangement in detention 186 Conclusion: Irrevocably foreign? 210 Appendix:  Measuring the quality of life in detention detainee questionnaire 225 References 245 Index 271