Asylum seekers in jail hunger strike

Around 30 failed asylum seekers who are being temporarily housed in Cardiff jail have gone on hunger strike.

It is not known what exactly sparked their action but earlier this year detainees hit the headlines when some were taken to hospital for tests in handcuffs.

It is believed they were told they were being sent to Cardiff but did not realise they would be held in a prison.

The jail in Cardiff's city centre

They are all men and originate from Kosovo, Sudan, Kashmir and Afghanistan.

A Prison Service spokesman has confirmed that 30 detainees are on "food refusal".

But, he added, the group had full access to meals and food in the prison shop.

A spokeswoman for the immigration service said two asylum seekers in Liverpool had taken similar action last week, but that had now stopped.

She said there were 500 temporary places for asylum seekers to be detained in prisons - a temporary service which "was not ideal."

"We have recruited over 1,000 immigration officers, we are opening reporting centres and detention centres and we are trying to clear the backlog.

"Our target is two months for clear cut cases, but some cases are really complicated," the spokeswoman added.

Earlier on Wednesday the prison visited the men and said he was trying to agree a timetable for their release.

A row over the holding of failed asylum seekers in Cardiff jail has been rumbling on since the Home Office announced plans earlier this year.

Appalled: Assembly Minister Edwina Hart

They said all detainees would have been refused permission to settle in Britain, and would be either awaiting deportation or appeals against deportation orders.

Back in May, the controversy was reignited when it was revealed that asylum seekers being held at the jail were taken from a prison van in handcuffs before undergoing tests at a hospital in the capital.

There were calls for an inquiry into the way the people were treated, amid suggestions that their human rights had been breached.

"It is inhumane and degrading and certainly contrary to the way we should be treating people," said south Wales east Assembly Member William Graham.

Prior to that Welsh Assembly Local Government Minister Edwina Hart wrote to UK Immigration Minister Barbara Roche expressing her concern about allegations of "appalling" conditions.

Cardiff North member Julie Morgan said treating the immigrants like criminals would exacerbate race relations.

Ann Clwyd MP told the House of Commons 41 asylum seekers who are being temporarily housed at Cardiff Prison are being sold drugs and taught how to forge credit cards while locked up in cells.