We understand that life after detention can be difficult. This is why DDVG has started a newly designed Ex-Detainee project, which aims at supporting released Ex-Detainees to reintegrate into the society and participate in their local community despite the hardships of limited support. We therefore help in particular those Ex-Detainees, that are threatened by or experiencing destitution. The project is a nationwide project and while we attempt to provide help for all detainees released from the Dover Immigration Removal Centre, it is not a precondition to have been a detainee in Dover to receive support from the project.
If you want to know more about our project, please contact us and ask for the Ex-Detainee Project Manager.
Here are some of the services we offer
• Providing you with general advice after you have been released
Once you have been released, many things can be confusing. You might not know the area where you live or you might feel isolated and lonely. We can give you advice on a variety of issues. We can help you find a doctor or dentist in your area, keep in touch with your solicitor, identify other help and support organisations for you and can put you in touch with voluntary organisations, which are looking for volunteers (you will not need a work permit to volunteer with them). If you have been detained in the Dover IRC we will also support you in staying in touch with your former visitor. While we are more than happy to provide referrals of your legal questions to our partners, who are specialised in this area, DDVG itself is unable to provide legal advice.
• Reimbursing your travel expenses to reporting centres, doctors, hospitals, dentists, lawyers, etc.
We recognise that life after detention is very difficult. In particular the lack of financial support and cash can make everyday life very hard. We will support you with important journeys by reimbursing your travel expenses, including to reporting centres, doctors or solicitors etc. We also have limited funding to pay for extended journeys such as court hearings. Please discuss these individual cases with the Ex-Detainee Project Manager.
Please keep in mind that we work on a reimbursement system. This means that you will need to send us your tickets first, before we will reimburse the money to you.
• Providing you with emergency accommodation and emergency food vouchers
With your legal circumstances or your private life changing, you might find yourself destitute and without any support. In emergency cases of imminent homelessness we have limited funding for emergency accommodation, usually for up to 3 nights. Within this time, the Ex-Detainee Project Manager and other DDVG staff will assist you in finding permanent accommodation. During this time, there is also the option that DDVG provides you with food vouchers or cash for emergency food, usually up to £14 per day. Please note that DDVG’s provision of emergency accommodation and food is only short-term and not a permanent solution. DDVG itself does not own any property or administrate any homeless shelter. We will help you to find permanent accommodation while you are provided with emergency accommodation and emergency food. This might also mean that you will have to leave the area where you usually stay, because often it is difficult to find housing for you there.
• Providing you with clothes if you need some or vouchers to buy some clothes
We recognise that the support from the Home Office for released detainees is very limited. Often clothing is not seen as an essential need and the financial support is too little for you to buy new or even second hand clothing. This is where we can help. We can provide you with clothing if you live in the Kent/ London area or we will send you a clothes voucher of up to £30 usually for a major supermarket where you can get good clothing for this money.
• Organizing an annual conference regarding ex-detainee needs and issues to serve as a forum of information exchange and the establishment of best practice guidelines
Once a year we will organise a major conference to help Ex-Detainees to network and discuss some of the common problems they all face. The major theme of the 2010 conference, which will take place on 10th June in Dover will be “Best Practice for Re-building your life.” The speakers will be Ex-Detainees who have managed to integrate successfully into their community and participate in daily life besides the burdens involved in being an Ex-Detainee in the United Kingdom. They will be able to give advice and hope to other Ex-Detainees, that while life in freedom can be nearly as hard as in detention, there are help organisations who will support you and there are ways to improve your situation. All Ex-Detainees are invited to this conference and if you want to register your participation, please contact us and ask for the Ex-Detainee Project Manager.
• Provide research on the situation and needs of Ex-Detainees in the United Kingdom
Awareness raising is an important element of the Ex-Detainee Project in Dover. This is why we will provide original research on the situation of Ex-Detainees in the UK, their needs and their major problems. We are working together with other help organisations and academic institutions to demonstrate that being an Ex-Detainee in the UK is a very difficult challenge but also that there are steps to improve the lives of Ex-Detainees. Currently DDVG is involved in the production of a video about Ex-Detainees living in the UK.
Some success stories of the Ex-Detainee Project so far
1. Helping the homeless
DDVG has helped a number of homeless Ex-Detainees by providing emergency accommodation and emergency food and assisting the Ex-Detainees to find permanent accommodation.
Most notably here is the story of an Iranian asylum seeker who was referred to DDVG by the London Detainee Support Group. He was destitute and sleeping rough on the streets. His application for asylum had been rejected and there was no support for him by the Home Office. DDVG managed to provide emergency accommodation for this Ex-Detainee for four nights. During this time, the DDVG team and our volunteers worked hard in finding a permanent place for the Ex-Detainee. Thanks to the suggestions of one of DDVG’s volunteers, we were able to find him a place to stay permanently. He is now taken care of by a church organisation.
In another case, an Ex-Detainee in Birmingham was referred to DDVG. We provided him with emergency accommodation and food for a number of nights, before we suggested to him to go to the Peace House in Coventry. However, the Ex-Detainee stayed only very shortly in Coventry and went back to sleeping rough in Birmingham. DDVG then networked with his solicitor and the Refugee Council in Birmingham and together with these partners we were able to apply for Section 95 support for this Ex-Detainee, who lives now in emergency accommodation provided by the Home Office and is awaiting his acceptance for NASS support.
2. Helping with travel expenses
DDVG is currently supporting a number of Ex-Detainees with travel expenses reimbursement. We support some Ex-Detainees with their travel expenses to reporting centres and court hearings. We also support a small number of Ex-Detainees with travel support to college and other educational training courses. We have reimbursed the travel expenses for one Ex-Detainee who needed to go to Liverpool to submit a fresh application for asylum.
3. Clothes Vouchers
We have been supporting a number of Ex-Detainees with clothes vouchers. In particular those facing destitution have been prioritised and we were able to provide clothes to a number of Ex-Detainees who did not have anything else than what they were wearing at the time.
4. Information
We have helped a number of Ex-Detainees by providing crucial information such as directions to doctors and dentists and contact telephone numbers. We have also rearranged signing on conditions for one Ex-Detainee and have helped a number of Ex-Detainees by referring their questions to other help organisations.
If you are an Ex-Detainee and would like to know how this project can benefit you, please call us and ask for the Ex-Detainee Project Manager. If you have any further questions, please contact us and we look forward to helping you!
Contact us on 0800 9179397 or 01304 242755
Or send us a text on 07540 723238
Email: info@ddvg.org.uk
Download our leaflet for Ex-Detainees
The Abandoned! – The Ex-Detainees conference report – February 2008. (Read more)
