THE HOME OFFICE needs to shut down detention centres that rob those seeking safety in Britain of freedom and the right to a family life, protesters said yesterday.

Around 30 members of the Movement for Justice (MFJ) assembled in Parliament Square to call for the closure of the centres, where people can be held for months while awaiting decisions on their fate.

They called for MPs taking part in a Commons debate today to tackle the “unchecked powers of the Home Office.”

Many of the detainees have lived and worked in Britain for years and have checked in with the Home Office on time, MFJ says, so there is no reason to imprison them to prevent them from absconding.

Detainees in Yarl’s Wood, which holds 400 women and a small number of men, staged a demonstration on Monday with chanting, singing, hunger strikes and occupying the central courtyard until 2am.

The women’s protest prevented one of them from being deported that day, MFJ said.

In an audio recording of the Yarl’s Wood protest, an anonymous woman said: “We are fed up of the inhuman torture and unlawful detention.

“Most of these women are victims of torture, trafficking and rape. They have been in detention for so long.

“The women are mentally ill. They self-harm themselves because they are frustrated nobody can help them and they have nobody to turn to.”

Privateer Serco, which runs the detention centre, claims the women are happy, but in reality they are being “bullied, harassed and intimidated” by guards and management, she continued.

MFJ organiser Antonia Bright told the Star that the detainees have been “growing in confidence” in their campaign because of increased public support and the Detained Fast Track (DFT) procedure being abolished.

DFT, under which refugees and asylum-seekers are deprived of freedom and swift appeals to suit the Home Office’s administrative convenience, was ruled unlawful by the High Court in June.

The Home Office “picks and chooses” who to detain after conducting “screening interviews,” which disproportionately affects women of ethnic minority backgrounds, Ms Bright said.

“We are not going back to the time of detention and making people miserable. We want an end to detention and the unchecked powers of the Home Office.”