City of Durham MP Mary Kelly Foy and Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys, who are among the signatories speaking out against plans for an immigration centre at Medomsley PET Shop Boys frontman Neil Tennant has joined hundreds of public figures in an outcry over plans to use the site of a notorious former detention centre to house illegal immigrants awaiting deportation. Over 200 people have written to the Home Secretary today to express concerns about the plans for the centre for women at the former Hassockfield Secure Training Centre, in Medomsley, County Durham – previously the Medomsley Detention Centre. Among the signatories are City of Durham MP Mary Kelly Foy and several more MPs, along with playwright and scriptwriter of Our Friends in the North, Peter Flannery and Rabbi Sybil Sheridan of the Newcastle Reform Synagogue.
THE site of a youth prison where hundreds of boys and young men were physically and sexually abused is to become an immigration detention centre for women.
The former Medomsley detention centre in Co Durham is due to open in the autumn to hold 85 female asylum-seekers, despite previous Home Office pledges to reduce the detention estate.
Recently established local campaigns against the plans have raised concerns about detainees’ welfare, access to legal support and a lack of scrutiny of the proposals.
Objections have also been raised about how reopening the site could affect the local community and former inmates who have been left scarred by the abuse that they suffered there.
Revealed: Priti Patel U-turn on end to detention for refugee women theguardian.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theguardian.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.