Foreigner-only prisons used to speed deportation

Haroon Siddique and agenciesWednesday October 24, 2007 Guardian Unlimited

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Two prisons in England are holding only foreign nationals to speed up their deportation, a minister admitted today.
The justice minister David Hanson said the policy was an attempt to speed up deportation in a "cost-effective and efficient" way.
The two all-male jails are Bullwood Hall in Hockley, Essex, which holds 154 prisoners, and Canterbury prison, which holds 284 men serving less than four years.
"What we're trying to do is to have an experiment to see whether we can speed up the deportation of foreign national prisoners, particularly those coming towards the end of their sentence," Mr Hanson told BBC Breakfast.
"And the two prisons particularly have immigration officials working with them very closely, five in each prison, to help speed up the deportation of prisoners when they come to the end of their sentence.
"We've actually increased the level of deportation quite significantly over the past two years. Two years ago 1,500 prisoners were deported, last year 2,500, this year, in line with the prime minister's commitment, we're on target to achieve 4,000."
Mr Hanson said there were agreements in place with more than 100 countries for prisoners to serve their sentences in their home countries.
"But we can't just deport individuals on receiving their sentence in all cases, because there are a range of issues relating to that," he said.
Mr Hanson said the two prisons had been focusing exclusively on foreign nationals for about 18 months and the experiment was "working well". He said there were around 11,000 foreign criminals across the prison system.
The justice minister rejected the idea that foreign prisoners could be given short sentences so they could be removed from Britain more quickly.
"Foreign national prisoners are no different than any other prisoner," said Mr Hanson. "If they've committed a crime in England and Wales they will be sentenced to the sentence they would get, whether they were British, or Czech or Polish or any other nationality."
He told BBC's Radio 4's Today programme that he did not know whether the trial would be extended "because we are evaluating it".
And he said there had been "no attempt to keep the matter secret".
"When parliament asked questions, we talked about foreign prisoners. The local press in Kent and Essex has been briefed on this topic."
The shadow justice secretary, Nick Herbert, said he did not object to foreign prisoners being kept in different jails.
"The problem is why haven't more of them been deported, at a time when the prisons are chock-a-block full," he told GMTV.
Frances Crook, of the Howard League for Penal Reform, told the programme that many of those being held were EU nationals who could return to the UK if they were deported.

Falando em Canterbury / Speaking about Canterbury

Falando em prisoes, como no recente post abaixo sobre o “bruxo” argelino que conheci num onibus ha poucos meses, a Inglaterra agora decidiu fazer duas de suas penitenciarias exclusivas para criminosos estrangeiros. Uma delas e justamente a de Canterbury, onde Mohammed esteve preso por dois anos. O pais quer tentar apressar o processo de deportacao dos que resolveram tentar um negocinho diferente por aqui e ja aumentou em mil o numero de deportacoes do ano passado para ca. Te cuida Mohammed! Acompanhe a noticia do The Guardian sobre o assunto.

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Speaking about jails, as showed in the recent post below about the “dude” I met the other day few months ago on the bus, England has decided that two national prisons will hold only convicted foreigners. One of those jails is precisely Canterbury, where Mohammed was retained for two years. England expects to speed up the deportation process of those who have tried to run a different business down here and this year has increased the deportation in one thousand case from last year. Watch out, Mohammed! See the news from The Guardian.

Destroy Athens, build up Porto Alegre

(*by Evanthia Tselika)

As Rio Grande do Sul sees the 7th year of the Merco Sul Art Bienal in Porto Allegre, the people of Athens saw their first contemporary Art Bienal open on the 11th of September 2007. Many of you might find that bewildering: that the birth place of Fidias, Ictinus and Aeschylus (architets of Acropolis) has for the first time held what has been a developing global trend for some time in the International Art Market, a Biennial. A Biennial: the term evolved from the fact that it is an event that takes place every two years, and many times it is referred to as Bienniale, the Italian counterpart.

The Venice Bienniale, is one of the most renowned in the world and has been established since 1895. Thus in what has been maimed as the cradle of Western civilization, Destroy Athens arrives, in Technotopos, in Gazi, an industrial area of the city, close to the center. The space is large and the entry into the first exhibit, a large small room with crumbling walls does not prepare one for the maze that follows on. Keeping very much with the prevalent themes that appear to concern contemporary European artists at the present moment, we are encountered with the crumbling environment, the human destruction of nature and other humans, questions of history, memory and identity. The Biennial followed the ideas that in order to take part in the international movement of artistic practices, local work has to be portrayed but in a setting where it can be internationally accessed. Athens seems to be a location according to the organizers that is “ideal”, “as it does not seem to ever coincide with the ceaselessly shifting borders between centre and periphery, a fact which provides an oversight of both the centre and the periphery”.

Both biennales are ending on the 18th of November and both include artists from all over the world, representative of the international art market systems that allow some artists to rise to a level of global visibility and exclude others. In the 2007 Merco Sul Biennial work by British born artist Francis Alys can be found. Francis Alys’s work that focuses on urban voyeurism can be found in acclaimed institutions around the world, including the largest British contemporary art institution Tate Modern. Aris Marcopoulos is another artist whose work focuses on urban procedures, but from a very different angle: his photographs show skateboard and snowboard culture, the graffiti and the youth that accompanies these notions. The Netherlands born Greek photographer portrays the links that are created by events such as these ones that connect different sides of the world and create dialogues that facilitate creation.


Globalization produces connections and benefits that can be easily disputed depending on which viewpoint you assume. But the instigation of dialogue that it allows through creative processes is one of the aspects that trigger the production of contemporary art. So even if you have no connection with the art world, being part of these international dialogues that are established through the Biennials that take place around the world, make one realize the fact that distances and time are becoming increasingly compressed in the contemporary world.

*Evanthia Tselika is an art critic born in Athens, Greece. She holds a degree in Visual Art from Goldsmith University, in London and a Master in History of Art from SOAS, University of London. She has currently been living in the British Capital.

Destrua Atenas, construa Porto Alegre

(*por Evanthia Tselika)

(**traduzido do ingles por Aleksander Aguilar)

No periodo em que Porto Alegre mais uma vez sedia a Bienal de Artes do Mercosul, em sua setima edicao, a Grecia, pela primeira vez na longa historia de Atenas, inaugurou sua primeira Bienal de Arte Contemporanea no dia 11 de setembro e ambas encerram-se com um dia de diferenca, 17 e 18 de novembro, respectivamente. Muitos podem ficar perplexos com o fato de que no pais de nomes como Esquilo (um dos pais da dramaturgia), e dos arquitetos de Acropoles, Fidias e Ictinus, tenha realizado-se pela primeira vez o que tem sido uma tendencia estabelecida ha bastante tempo no mercado internacional de arte: uma Bienal.

A Bienal de Veneza (Venice Bienniale) eh uma das mais renomadas no mundo e tem ocorrido desde 1895. Nessa esteira, talvez atrasadamente, no lugar que tem sido nomeado como o berco da civilizacao ocidental, a capital grega sedia o evento sob o slogan Destroy Athens (Destrua Atenas) em Technotopos, uma area industrial da cidade proxima ao centro de Atenas. O espaco eh amplo e a entrada para a primeira instalacao, uma sala onde as paredes desmoranam-se, nao nos prepara propriamente para o labirinto que se segue. Mantendo muito dos temas prevalentes que aparecem atualmente no trabalho dos artistas europeus contemporaneous e perpassa ambientes em desmoronamento, a intervencao humana na destruicao da natureza e mesmo de outros seres humanos, questoes historicas, de memoria e de identidade.

A Bienal de Atenas seguiu as ideias que estao em voga no movimento internacional de praticas artisticas: trabalho local deve ser exposto mas de maneira que isso possa ser internacionalmente acessado. Atenas parece ser um lugar, de acordo com os organizadores, ideal para isso, ja que ela nao parece nunca coincidir com o incessante deslocamento de fronteiras entre o centro e a periferia, um fato que proporciona uma visao geral de ambas. Alem das bienais das duas cidades encerrarem-se na mesma data, ambas incluem artistas de todo o mundo que representam o sistema do mercado internacional de arte que permite a alguns artistas crescerem a um nivel global de visibilidade (embora exclua outros).

Na Bienal do Mercosul 2007 podem ser encontrados, por exemplo, obras do artista britanico Francis Alys. O trabalho de Alys eh focado no voyeurism urbano e pode ser encontrado em aclamadas instituicoes ao redor do mundo, incluindo a Tate Modern, a maior instituicao britanica de arte contemporanea, em Londres. Aris Marcopoulos eh um outro artista presente na Bienal de Porto Alegre cujo trabalho foca-se nos procedimentos urbanos, mas atraves de um angulo bastante diferente. Suas fotografias mostram a cultura do skate e do snowboard, do grafite e da juventude que acompanham esta nocao. O fotografo grego naturalizado holandes mostra os elos que sao criados por eventos como as duas bienais em diferentes pontos do globo, mas que conectam esses lados e criam dialogos que facilitam a criacao.

A globalizacao produz conexoes e beneficios que podem ser facilmente disputados dependendo de qual ponto vista assuma-se. Mas o instigar do dialogo que isso possibilita atraves do processo criativo eh um dos aspectos que desencadeia a producao de arte contemporanea. Assim, ainda que voce nao tenha conexao com o mundo das artes, participar desses dialogos internacionais que sao estabelecidos atraves das bienais ao redor do mundo eh uma chance de perceber que distancia e tempo tornam-se crescentemente condensados no mundo contemporaneo.

Evanhtia Tselika eh critica de arte, natural de Atenas, pos-graduada em Historia da Arte na Universidade de Londres e eh radicada na capital britanica.

Ontem nao foi dia 13

Ontem foi sexta-feira 12. Acordei pensando que era 13. E se assim fosse, teria uma data simbolica e coincidentemente propicia para voltar a atualizar este blog. Isso porque gosto de representacoes simbolicas, mesmo que as vezes nao tenham muito a dizer. Talvez seja uma paixao refreada a Semiotica. Acabei por escrever sobre o retorno ontem, mas postando apenas hoje, dia 13.
Mas eu nao to aqui pra jogar conversa fora, como diz um dos colunistas da Ipanema FM, e sim para tentar me reorganizar na dificil tarefa de manter um blog. Ja havia reconhecido essa dificuldade em post anterior e de fato nao tinha espectativas de chegar ao status de “blogueiro professional” em poucos meses. Ainda assim, eh um tanto frustrante colecionar ideias, relacoes, analogias, sarcasmos, imagens e titulos num caderninho Moleskine e nao conseguir redigir. Claro que as vezes esbarro na analise critica (ainda presente) arraigada no preconceito, por assim dizer, da aparente gratuidade dessa atividade. Dai me lembro que iniciei isso como um projeto para treinar a capacidade de redacao em ingles, traduzindo ou nao, e que de fato a maioria das minhas supostas grandes ideias nao terao espaco dentro dessa “perspective-justificativa”.
Logo, me resta tentar escrever o possivel, ou pelo menos proximo a isso, com aquela pontinha de frustracao. Suspendi as atividades ha quase dois meses, quando fui a Grecia por duas semanas. Tinha todas as historias anotadas, mas nenhuma redigida. Mas a luta continua, companheiros!
Minhas auto-demandas sao: Manter a proposta de atualizacao semanal; Dar continuidade as entrevistas quinzenais com brasileiros que vivem em Londres; Iniciar a sessao From my Window; Colocar uma capa nova no meu dicionario; Comprar uma bicicleta dobravel, Fazer fotos dos grafitis do Banksy, Ir ao show do Paco de Lucia em Novembro e outras coisas mais…

Yesterday was not the 13th

Yesterday was Friday, the 12th. I woke up believing it was the 13th. If that was the case, I would have had a symbolic and coincidently propitious date to restart updating this blog. This because I like symbolic representations even at times they do not have much to say. Perhaps it is about a restrained passion to Semiotic. I ended up writing about the return yesterday, but I posted it only today, the 13th.
But I am not here for “happy talk”, as one of the columnists from the Ipanema FM use to say, but to try to reorganize myself in order to carry out the hard task of keeping a blog. I had already recognized this difficulty in one of the previous posts and, in fact, I had no expectations of reaching the professional blogger status within few months. Even so, it is slightly frustrating to collect ideas, comparisons, analogies, sarcasms, images and titles on a little Moleskine notebook and not being able to write down. Evidently at times I come up against the prejudiced analyses (still present), let’s put in these terms, of the apparent gratuitousness of this activity. And then I remember I have started this as a project to provide myself training to develop the ability of writing in English. So, I realize the majority of my supposed great ideas will not have room within this “perspective-justification”.
Therefore, it remains for me to write what is possible, or at least the closest to that, feeling that little touch of frustration. I have suspended the blog activities nearly two months ago, when I went to Greece for two weeks. I had all the stories noted down, but any of them had been written. But the struggle is still on, comrades!
My self-demands are: Keeping the proposal of a weekly updating; Continuing the fortnightly interviews with Brazilians living in London; Initiate the session From my Window; Fixing the cover of my dictionary; Buying a fold bicycle; Take photos of Banksy graffiti; Watching Paco de Lucia concert in November and many other things…

O prisioneiro argelino

Ótimo! Ônibus praticamente vazio. Banco da frente no andar de cima junto à janela desocupado. Logo, a viagem de relativos 25 minutos de Holborn até Caledonian Road, ainda que houvesse algum trafego à frente, seria razoavelmente fácil, quase agradável. Sentar nesse especifico banco dos famosos ônibus vermelhos double deck é uma das melhores formas de observar as ruas de Londres – do alto, em movimento e, de prefêrencia, em silêncio.

Mas Mohammed (nome fictício e ilustrativamente escolhido por ser um dos nomes mais populares na Grã-Bretanha) queria falar. Libertado naquela manhã após cumprir dois anos de pena na prisão de Canterbury, o argelino de bigode largo e escuro, de mais de 32 anos de idade mas com olhos tão cheios de energia que passaria por menos de 28, estava comemorando. “Desculpe se estou incomodando, mas eu to muito animado”, explicou-se ao perceber minha falta de reciprocidade a sua curiosa animação. Ele havia dedicido sentar no banco vazio ao lado do meu e um típico comentário sobre o miserável clima inglês, especialmente pessimo no ultimo verão, foi a estratégia de Mohammed para tentar iniciar uma conversa. Observações triviais com estranhos em ônibus não são muito comuns por aqui e, diante da minha aborrecida resposta com um movimento de cabeça, a vontade de papear de Mohammed acabaria frustrada. De início não acreditei que ele era um recém-libertado, mas quando percebi os olhos de fato entusiasmados e vibrantes do meu interlocutor interagi verbalmente.

A prisão inglesa é terrivel, segundo o que ele me contou. “Já estive preso na França e na Espanha também, mas aqui é a pior de todas”. Mas Mohammed não deu detalhes. Apenas suspirou e olhou aliviado pela janela o movimento da cidade. Roubo e fraude foram os crimes do experiente ex-prisioneiro que naquele momento se dirigia a casa de um amigo para buscar o gato de estimação que havia deixado lá. Documentos como carteira de motorista e número de seguro social eram as suas especialidades. “E você vai seguir nesse negócio?”, pergunto sorridente. “É claro! Neste pais você tem que ser rápido, ou eles te devoram”, responde convicto.
Não tive tempo de perguntar mais nada. Duas paradas antes da Blundell Street, ele apertou minha mão, perguntou meu nome e desceu correndo as escadas com uma animação juvenil.

PAVILHÃO 9
A população carcerária na Inglaterra, segundo os dados estatísticos de outubro deste ano do Ministério da Justiça, é de 81. 245. Há também brasileiros nas prisões inglesas, e bastante, de acordo com Mohammed. No Brasil, estima-se que o número de prisioneiros, apertados nas mais de 500 penintenciarios do país, é de 400 mil.
No dia 2 de outubro, o massacre do Carandiru completou 15 anos. O filme sobre a tragédia pode ser encontrado em algumas lojas e locadoras de Londres e a realidade caótica do sistema penitenciário brasileiro também segue sendo vista diariamente no pais. A proposito, o ultimo dia 10 de setembro foi o primeiro aniversario do assassinato, até agora inexplicado, do Coronel Ubiratan Guimarães, aquele que comandou a invasão do pavilhão 9 do Carandiru cujo resultado foram 111 execuções.
O prédio foi implodido, mas ao que parece, a incompêtencia e a impunidade mantem-se em pé sobre os escombros. Espero que Mohammed, antes de seguir “na correria” um dia também assista Carandiru.

The Algerian prisoner

Great! The bus was practically empty. The front seat on the upstairs deck by the window was free. Therefore, the journey of approximately 25 min from Holborn to Caledonian Road - even if it could be expected to be a bit longer due to the common traffic delay - would probably be reasonably easy, one could say almost pleasant. Sitting on that specific seat on the famous red double decker London buses is one of the best ways of observing the city’s street – from above, moving and, preferentially, in silence.

However Mohamemed (fictional name and illustratively chosen due to the fact that it is one of the most popular names in Great Britain) wanted to speak. As he had been freed on that very morning after two years in a Canterbury jail, the large and dark moustached Algerian, likely to be older than 32 but yet with such lively eyes that made him look not even 28, was celebrating. “I am sorry if I am bothering you, but I am very excited”, he explained noticing my lack of reciprocation to his intriguing excitement. He had decided to seat beside me and a typical comment on the miserable English weather, which was especially awful this past summer, had been Mohammed’s strategy in order to trigger a chat. Trivially catching up with a stranger on buses is not the usual way down here and, faced with my apathetic response of a slight head movement, his wish of talking could have ended up in frustration. Initially I did not believe that he had just been released from prison but as I noticed the enthusiastic eyes of my interlocutor I decided to reciprocate to his efforts.

The English prison is terrible, according to what he told me. “I have already been in jail both in France and in Spain, but here it is definitely much worse”. But Mohammed did not give any further details. He only sighed and looked thoughtful and alleviated the hustle of the city through the window. Robbery and fraud were the offences of the experienced former prisoner that at that moment, as his first action as a free man, was going to pick his cat up from his friend’s house. British documents such as drive licence and National Insurance Number were Mohammed ‘s specialities. “And you are going to keep this business up?” I asked with a smile on my face. “Sure thing! In this country you’d better be quick otherwise they eat you, man!”, he firmly replied.

I did not have time to ask anything else. Two stops before Blundell Street, he shakes my hand, asks my name and runs down the stairs with a youthful enthusiasm.

Pavillon 9
The prison population in England, according to the statistics data of the National Offender Management Service (bulletin from 5th October) is 81.245. There are also Brazilians in the English prisons. And a lot, from what Mohammed told me. In Brazil, the estimative is there are over 400.000 prisoners squeezed in the approximately 500 prisons of the country.
On the second of October, the Carandiru massacre turned its 15th anniversary. The film about the tragedy can be found in some shops and rent videos of London. The chaotic reality of the prison system is also daily seen in Brazil. By the way, the past 10th of September was the first anniversary of the murder, till now unexplained, of the Colonel Ubiratan, the one who was in charge of the operation that resulted in 111 deaths.
The building has been imploded, but it seems that the incompetence and the impunity remains stand up on the debris. I hope Mohammed, before go back to run his business, watches Carandiru as well.