“Satisfaction but also concern”: that’s the comment of the Bishop of Lancaster, Msgr. Patrick O’Donoghue on the Report drawn up by Annie Owens, chief inspector of prisons in England, in which the conditions in which young refugees are being held in the reception centres set up by the government are denounced. The Report reveals that child refugees suffer from problems of poverty and health and, with specific reference to the centre of Oakington in Cambridgeshire, declares that “the young are deprived of the assistance of the social services, education and physical activities”. The Report also criticises the fact that “unskilled personnel are having to work with a large number of young people who are being hindered in their growth”. “This document declared the bishop reveals an unfortunately common situation. Asylum seekers being held in detention or in community centres live in appalling conditions. Last week I visited a centre in Liverpool for refugee mothers awaiting the processing of their asylum applications. I met 25 women, some with infant children, others pregnant. I was scandalized he concluded to hear of their experiences of poverty and deprivation. One woman confided to me that the immigration authorities had erupted into the centre in the middle of the night and taken away a member of her family in handcuffs”.
