Detainees and a detainee

1 On Tuesday, having listened to the reports, the Oxted group, prompted by their chair, had a first discussion about the response to tales of bad events in the Removal Centres. There had been such accounts; now there arose the question: what do we do?

1.1 It seemed a good question to put to the Management Committee. But what, asked the chair, will the Committee do? The question then seemed a good one to raise at an All-Visitors' meeting. The chair continued to talk: about writing letters to local MPs, and to prospective MPs, and to newspapers. He countered the easy response that newspapers get it wrong. There was a Media officer on the Management Committee, but she had not attended recent meetings. So the job was not being done. Perhaps the chair would take it on. The chair demurred.

2 And the detainee. The most recent visit had been a short one. The visitor had arrived at an inappropriate time. The days passed, some ten or more of them. The visitor telephoned the detainee. The offer of a visit was not accepted. Rather the detainee and the visitor agreed that, when the detainee was ready to receive a visit, he would text the visitor. An interesting reversal of the customary understanding?

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