"Our failure to resource the asylum processes has caused untold
human misery," said Phil Woolas, the immigration minister. And
he's right. But might the problems go beyond money? Could some
of it be attitudinal? Take recent events at Yarl's Wood
detention centre, where officials have been breaking their own
rules by depriving asylum-seekers of a book advising them of
their rights. The guide, which collates publicly available
information on legal, medical and relevant human rights issues,
has been confiscated from at least two who wanted to challenge
their detentions. One, Mercy Wanjiku, from Kenya, had hers taken
away last Tuesday, which somewhat hampered her attempt to meet
an appeal deadline on Friday. She didn't see it again until
Thursday, by which time the Black Women's Rape Action Project
had reported the confiscation to the police, saying the
confiscation amounted to theft. Officials tell us these were
isolated incidents and that a contractor is culpable; but all
things being equal, Ms Wanjiku will be