Scottish Detainee Visitors

Visiting Dungavel

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Visiting Detainees with Scottish Detainee Visitors

dungavel.jpg

Dungavel House opened as an Immigration Removal Centre in 2001. It has capacity to hold 214 detainees, 14 of which are for women. Dungavel stopped detaining children in May 2010.  It is located about five miles from Strathaven in South Lanarkshire. It is managed by Group 4 Securicor on behalf of the Home Office. 

Dungavel is in an isolated location. It is difficult to get to by public transport. Because of this, SDV relies on visitors' own cars to travel to the centre twice a week, in groups of up to five, to visit detainees. It takes about 50 minutes to drive to Dungavel from central Glasgow. New visitors will always do their first visits in the company of more experienced visitors.

On arrival at the centre, visitors are required to show photo ID at the main gate. They are then taken into a waiting area where they are photgraphed and have their fingerprints electronically scanned. Staff take details of the detainees visitors wish to see, search the visitors and take them through to the visits room. The visits room is a spacious room with easy chairs and low coffee tables. Sometimes visitors sit and talk with just one detainee, on other occasions we sit together in a group.

SDV visitors visit on Monday and Thursday evenings and occassional weekends. Most of our visitors live in Glasgow but some travel from other parts of Scotland to visit. We leave Glasgow city centre at 6pm and usually get into the visit room between 7pm and 7.30pm. Visiting ends at 8.30pm and we are usually back in Glasgow by 9.30pm. 

Visitors' experience

Click on the links below to read visitors' accounts of what it's like to visit detainees in Dungavel.

If you would like to join our visiting team, please get in touch with our coordinator using the contact details below or go to the Get Involved page where you can download a visitor application form.

Why I visit Dungavel

What visitors say about visiting

Contact details for Dungavel

Dungavel House Immigration Removal Centre
Strathaven
South Lanarkshire
ML10 6RF

Telephone: 01698 395000
Fax: 01698 395067

Click here to see the location of Dungavel

Reports on Dungavel

HM Inspector of Prisons 2010 Dungavel Report

Scottish Detainee Visitors, c/o SRC, 5 Cadogan Square, (170 Blythswood Court), Glasgow, G2 7PH. 0141 248 9799 coordinator@sdv.org.uk Scottish Charity Number SC033781