29/09/2008
Detainees at the Campsfield House immigration prison in Oxfordshire are being 'exploited for cheap labour' due to staff cuts, a union organisation has revealed. Oxford and District Trades Union Council said the rejected asylum seekers, who are locked up for lengthy periods pending their deportation, are being paid £5 for six-hour shifts of cleaning and kitchen work.

A trades council statement said: 'We maintain our position that Campsfield is a shameful operation and should be closed. As long as it is open, jobs should be properly paid and be done by trained staff.' The statement added: 'Detainees should receive an adequate financial allowance and not be obliged to act as slave labour for a multinational that makes big profits out of an operation that causes detainees enormous stress, uncertainty, general misery and often mental illness.'

Campaigning organisation Corporate Watch said since Global Expertise in Outsourcing (GEO) took over the running of Campsfield in June 2006, it had cut back on both staffing levels and educational, recreational and other provisions at the centre.

It said over the past year, GEO had sacked education workers, nursing staff have departed, staff turnover has increased and the welfare officer has left. This month, the chaplain was suspended.

GEO’s main business is immigration detention centres and mental health centres throughout the world, especially in USA, UK, South Africa and Australia. It also runs a part of Guantánamo Bay base in Cuba.
Private companies like GEO that run immigration detention centres make huge profits. Seven of the UK's ten detention centres are run by private companies.

Source : Risks, BBC