Asylum hunger strike enters third day

The striking asylum seekers claim they were deceived

Thirty-two asylum seekers being temporarily housed at Cardiff Prison have begun the third day of a hunger strike over their treatment.

The men started the action on Wednesday, claiming they were not told they were bound for the jail before deportation later this year.

They have fled from war and torture and, within a few weeks, they find themselves in prison again

Richard Gwyn Jones, Oxfam Cymru

Oxfam has expressed sympathy for the immigrants while the Immigration Service has called for more detention places to be made available for asylum seekers.

Detention policy

The detainees originate from Kosovo, Sudan, Kashmir and Afghanistan and have been kept at the prison for around four months under a Home Office policy announced earlier this year to detain them while specialist detention centres are built.

They claimed they were deceived by immigration officials and say they were told they would be sent to Cardiff, but not the city's jail - one of 33 around the country to home 50 hopefuls.

According to a Prison Service spokeswoman, the group has full access to meals and food in the prison shop. They have reportedly taken liquids but have refused meals and there are no immediate concerns over their health.

The jail in Cardiff's city centre

A pair of asylum seekers in Liverpool took similar action last week, but have now stopped.

The controversy of holding would-be immigrants gathered pace in May it was revealed that some were taken to hospital for routine tests in handcuffs.

A demonstration outside the prison just a few weeks later drew a range of groups opposed to the policy. Welsh Assembly Finance Minister Edwina Hart said it was not appropriate.

Cardiff North MP Julie Morgan visited the prison in July and, on her return, told the House of Commons the policy of pre-deportation penal housing was "deeply inhumane and inappropriate."

These people have come from countries where they fled from war and from torture and, within a few weeks, they find themselves in prison again

Richard Gwyn Jones of Oxfam Cymru

The government had pledged no immigrants would be in prisons after Christmas.

But Immigration Advisory Service Chief Executive Keith Best, who recently met Immigration Minister Lord Rooker, told BBC Wales's Good Morning Wales the Home Office could not keep that promise.

Mr Best said: "When I expressed my pleasure that this was a commitment to Lord Rooker, he told me that, frankly, though he wasn't too optimistic and that, in fact, he probably couldn't meet that deadline.

"Therefore, they will continue with the detention of asylum seekers in wholly unsuitable conditions in penal establishments.

"There should be maximum protests about it."

'Unsurprising action'

Oxfam Cymru's Richard Gwyn Jones was sympathetic with the immigrants' plight.

He said: "These people have come from countries where they fled from war and from torture and, within a few weeks, they find themselves in prison again.

"I don't think it's surprising that they have had to resort to such radical action to try and get their message over."

But a spokeswoman for the Prison Service said more places were needed to house the asylum seekers than the current 500. She admitted the temporary service "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," she said.

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

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