As a volunteer assisting asylum seekers, I was dismayed to see the recent programme on BBC1 about the abuse of asylum seekers by some staff at the Oakington Centre in Cambridgeshire and while being transported.
For a time last year, I was an independent monitor at Campsfield Removal Centre, Kidlington, where I was struck by the commitment and care of the staff.
They did their best to understand and meet the day-to-day needs of the detainees and also, for instance, during Ramadan and at Christmas.
If there was any indication of improper behaviour, this was effectively taken up by the centre's manager. Their task is now made all the more difficult as detainees are rarely in the centre for more than a few days.
None of this, however, should be taken to condone in any way the iniquitous practice of rounding up asylum seekers, who are fleeing persecution and worse in their own countries, and placing them in the equivalent of a prison. JEFF ALDERSON, Iffley, Oxford
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