As the final decorations are placed on Christmas trees across the country and families get together to exchange gifts and enjoy turkey with all the trimmings, asylum seekers on the Bibby Stockholm barge are expecting another “boring” day on Monday – standing in long queues for food they say is inedible, in the cramped accommodation they describe as “a floating prison”.
The controversial Home Office barge, moored in Portland, Dorset, is home to more than 300 asylum seekers. Officials insist it is necessary to use it to reduce the £8m per day hotel bill to accommodate those seeking refugee status. The government has said it will publish the cost per head of housing people on the barge in the New Year. Corporate Travel Management (CTM) have been awarded a £22,450,772 two-year contract to manage the barge.
The use of the barge has been a source of controversy since before it briefly opened its doors to the first cohort of asylum seekers on 7 August, only to hastily close them again four and a half days later following the discovery of legionella onboard.
The latest concerning development on the barge was the death of Leonard Farruku, 27, who died on 12 December following a suspected suicide. The death followed reports of an earlier attempted suicide in August in a letter to former home secretary, Suella Braverman, from the 39 asylum seekers on board.
“In a tragic incident one of the asylum seekers attempted suicide but we acted promptly and prevented this unfortunate event,” they wrote. “Considering the ongoing difficulties it’s not unexpected that we might face a repeat of such situations in the future.
“Our personal belief is that many of these individuals might resort to this foolishness to escape problems in the future.”
Those on the barge who are struggling with their mental health say there is a long wait before they can get an appointment with a doctor.
“One man who has mental health problems was given a number to call to get help. But when he phoned that number there was no reply,” one asylum seeker told the Guardian.
Protests by the far right and racist messages about those on the barge on social media, have added to the fear and distress of those on board.
Leisure facilities onboard are limited and in a poor state of repair and one man, who smokes 10 cigarettes a day, said each time he leaves the barge to smoke he is searched by airport security-style scanners.
“If I go for a cigarette 10 times a day I’m searched 10 times a day,” he said.
The men can leave the site only on specially arranged buses.
The asylum seekers onboard told the Guardian that the Home Office does not communicate effectively with them and they were not formally told about Farruku’s death.
“Nobody has told us anything about any arrangements for Christmas,” one said. “As far as we know we will just be getting the same horrible under-cooked chicken and rice.”
Home Office sources said a Christmas meal would be served to the asylum seekers and that pre-Christmas activities would be on offer.
The quality and quantity of the food onboard has been a source of ongoing complaints from the men.
“We have to queue for an hour or more to get food and sometimes the food runs out before we reach the front of the queue. I have a blood disorder which makes me dizzy if I stand up for too long so I only go and get food once a day,” one said.
“At night I must sleep hungry, for we are indeed imprisoned. I don’t even have access to any supermarket to get food for myself. The amount of food they give us is suitable for a 10-year-old child,” said another.
Home Office recently cut the allowance for asylum seekers in catered accommodation to £1.25 a day.
“It is very boring here as always,” said another. “After [Farruku’s] suicide the mood of friends is not good. Everything is hidden from us. Every day, the sense of prison becomes more apparent here and we are more tired and unmotivated.”
Charlotte Khan, the head of advocacy and public affairs at the charity Care4Calais, which is supporting the men onboard said: “As most of us look forward to spending time with loved ones, the miserable image of the Bibby Stockholm reminds us, that because of this government’s inhumane treatment of people seeking sanctuary, not everyone will feel happy and safe this Christmas.
“The guys on the Bibby Stockholm are stuck behind barbed-wire fences, hundreds of miles from their own loved ones, and face the emotional aftermath of losing one of their neighbours last week.”
One man issued a plea: “Please help us. We are humans too in this place that feels like a prison. We should not be treated as captive animals.”
