Five On The Run
Five asylum seekers are still on the run after escaping from Campsfield Immigration Detention Centre last week.
The five men, all Romanians, escaped from the high-security building near Kidlington at around midnight last Monday (21st January).
A police search helicopter, twenty-one officers and two police dogs were brought in to search the surrounding area when the five were discovered missing.
A hole in the perimeter fence was discovered, leading investigators to believe that they received outside assistance.
The Home Office Immigration Department confirmed the escape, but refused to comment on the individual cases. A spokesperson for Group Four, the private security firm that owns Campsfield, said that an investigation was underway to find the five, who are likely be charged with criminal damage if they be caught.
Since Campsfield opened in 1993 as Britain's first confinement facility for asylum seekers there have been several escapes, hunger strikes, protests and riots over poor living conditions. Last summer, two Russians managed to break free after allegedly scaling the 20ft razor wire fence. In the same month, up to 40 people went on a week-long hunger strike.
The camp itself has been the subject of several protests in Oxford, especially round the University, including a concert organised last summer.
There are currently around 1,750 people currently seeking asylum in Britain, being held at more than 40 similar high-security sites. The average stay at Campsfield is 8-10 weeks, at a cost to the taxpayer of £800-£1,500 per person. Only 21% of them are eventually permitted to stay in Britain.
Bill MacKeith, Spokesperson for the Close Campsfield Campaign and President of the Oxford Trades Union Council, expressed his support for the five: "We are glad that five of the wrongfully imprisoned detainees are now free." He also added: "I personally am sorry that the rest of them did not escape. There are 179 wrongfully imprisoned, totally innocent refugees and other immigrants in Campsfield."
<hr><h5>See also</h5>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.closecampsfield.org.uk/">Campaign to Close Campsfield</a></li></ul>
31st Jan 2002