This book draws on ten years of research by Mary Bosworth inside Britain’s immigration removal centres. Material includes pictures gathered directly from the people who were detained, operational and administrative documents provided by institutions, and original artworks made by Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll. Working collaboratively and across their disciplines, the authors seek to illuminate everyday life within these hidden institutions.

While the pandemic has, at least temporarily, reduced the numbers incarcerated in the UK for immigration matters, harsh border control practices there, across Europe, and elsewhere continue to animate and be reinforced by populist right-wing governments. Notwithstanding the damage these institutions cause for individuals and their families, as well as the futility of trying to prevent unauthorised border crossing in a world like ours that is shaped by inequality, governments everywhere remain stubbornly committed to this custodial practice. 

In sharing some of the stories of those locked up, as well as in its creative interpretations of these spaces, this book seeks to challenge their use and legitimacy.

This event includes an introduction by co-authors Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll and Mary Bosworth.

Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll is also appearing at Symposium: Moving Images, Institutional Bodies earlier in the day.