“It’s the human connection”

New SDV volunteer, John Carswell, blogs about what drew him to visiting people in Dungavel

“OMG, what is this place???”

I’d seen the sign on the road, “Dungavel House, IRC” and naively imagined it was one of Scotland’s many historic old homes. Curious, I pedalled my bike up the drive. 

Sure enough, it was an old home, but like none I’d ever seen before. This one was surround by a 12-foot, chain-link fence topped with coils of razor wire.  The idyllic, pastoral surroundings bristled with CCTV cameras. 

I knew I was being watched, even as I pulled out my phone to take a quick picture of the place.

I later learned that Dungavel House, once owned by the Duke of Hamilton, was now an Immigration Removal Centre (IRC).  It is a detention centre used to house people while their immigration status is reviewed. 

It’s the responsibility of the Home Office in Westminster and our own Scottish Government has no jurisdiction over the place. It is not a prison, per se, but those inside are not allowed to leave and, unlike a real prison, they are held there for an indeterminate period of time. 

Every other country in Europe has a time limit on detention, but Britain can hold people as long as it likes, for months and, in some cases, years.  So much for Scottish hospitality!

What could I do? I wrote letters to my MP and MSP.  I asked around, I sent emails, I thought about organising a protest or a prayer vigil, but nothing practical came along until I heard about Scottish Detainee Visitors (SDV). 

There is no agenda with SDV save attending to the wellbeing of those detained.  It is a befriending service in which local volunteers go behind the walls of Dungavel to meet with and offer a friendly face to those inside. SDV offers a variety of support, but it’s the human connection, person to person, face to face that can make the biggest difference, both to those visited and those doing the visits. 

Dungavel isn’t going away any time soon and every day that I enjoy my freedom, someone else is deprived of theirs.

If, like John, you want to do something practical in response to the injustice of immigration detention, we’re recruiting new visitors. Apply here.