CENTRE FOR CRIMINOLOGY FACULTY OF LAW The Ethics

CENTRE FOR CRIMINOLOGY FACULTY OF LAW The Ethics and Challenges of Conducting Research in Immigration Detention Centres Mary Bosworth 17 March 2018

UK IMMIGRATION DETENTION § § § C. 3500 detained per day, 35000 over the course of the year plus 250 - 650 in prison Visa over-stayers, undocumented, failed & current asylum seekers, ex-prisoners; most awaiting deportation/removal; only 50% go 9 (soon to be 8) centres: 1 for women; Private sector & HM Prison service. IRC Tinsley House (G 4 S) adjacent to Gatwick airport holds families for 72 hours – 1 week. Other short-term holding facilities at ports/airports in UK and in France (eg Calais); any police station and/or‘reporting’centre can also be site of short-term detention

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MY RESEARCH Since 2009 Only academic with permission to enter freely: can extend to students & postdocs § Funded by Nuffield, BA, ERC, JFF § Mixed methods (though am by preference qualitative) § Website; team § § 17 March 2018 Page 4

CHALLENGES OF INTERPRETATION § § § § Intellectually complex sites: what concepts & methods to use? Are they prisons or not? Language barriers Culture barriers Time/throughput Fragments, mixed methods Visual methods 17 March 2018 Page 5

ETHICAL CHALLENGES Vulnerability of detainees and of researchers § Informed consent & Secondary trauma § Unrealistic expectations § 17 March 2018 Page 6

REPORTING CHALLENGES Long-term research project raises other problems, in terms of relationship with gatekeepers § Politicisation of sites and their hidden nature § Impact? § Sharing data § 17 March 2018 Page 7

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS • Need for academic community • Need for open discussion and acknowledgement about limits of what academic research can do • Dangers of heroism • Still need to try to optimism • Commitment to academic integrity and scholarship 17 March 2018 Page 8