Visitors Groups
Our member visitor groups visit and support people in every detention centre and residential short term holding facility in the UK, as well as in a number of prisons.
All visitors groups are independent, but work with AVID and each other to ensure that people in detention across the UK have access to the emotional and practical support of a volunteer visitor, to share best practice, and to promote a collective voice for change based on the real-life experiences of those in or post detention.
AVID with JRS UK Detention Visiting Group at training session in Jan 2018 (Img: Beatrice Grasso)
Our Membership in 2022:
Asylum Welcome
Asylum Welcome provides information, advice and support to people in immigration detention as well as refugees and asylum seekers in Oxford and across Oxfordshire.
Volunteers from their Detention Support Programme used to visit and provided support to people held at Campsfield House detention centre, near Kidlington, before its closure in 2018. These visitors now support people held in HMP Huntercombe, a prison for non-british citizens.
Beyond Detention
Beyond Detention visits and supports people being detained at Yarl’s Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire.
BEST
Befriending and support team for foreign nationals in HMP Wandsworth (BEST) visits and supports people being detained post-sentence under immigration control and non-british citizens at HMP Wandsworth in London.
Detention Action
Detention Action visits and supports people being detained in Harmondsworth and Colnbrook detention centres, near Heathrow Airport, as well as providing welfare support workshops at several London prisons.
Durham Visitors Group
Durham Visitors Group were established in late 2021 to provide emotional and practical support to women held at Derwentside detention centre for women in County Durham.
Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group
Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group (GDWG) visit and provide support and advocacy to detainees held at Tinsley House and Brook House detention centres and Cedars pre-departure accommodation for families, near Gatwick Airport.
Jesuit Refugee Service
Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS UK) runs a detention outreach programme to people being detained at Harmondsworth and Colnbrook detention centres, near Heathrow Airport, London.
Larne House Visitors Group
Larne House Visitors Group (LHVG) is a volunteer-run group visiting men and women being held at Larne House short-term holding facility near Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Lewes Organisation in Support of Refugees and Asylum Seekers
Lewes Prison Visiting Group is part of Lewes Organisation in Support of Refugees and Asylum Seekers (LOSRAS) visit people detained post-sentence under immigration control at HMP Lewes, near Brighton.
Manchester Immigration Detainee Support Team
Manchester Immigration Detainee Support Team (MIDST) is a volunteer-run group that visits and supports men and women being detained at Manchester STHF, a short-term holding facility at Manchester Airport. They also support men held at two Manchester prisons.
Morton Hall Visitors Group
Morton Hall Visitors Group (MHVG) volunteers visit and provide support on a weekly basis to people detained at Swinderby STHF and HMP Morton Hall in Lincolnshire.
Scottish Detainee Visitors
Scottish Detainee Visitors (SDV) befriend and support people being held at Dungavel detention centre near Strathaven, South Lanarkshire.
SOAS Detainee Support
SOAS Detainee Support group is a student-led organisation based at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). The group’s volunteers visit and support people being held at Harmondsworth and Colnbrook detention centres near Heathrow, London, and Yarl’s Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire.
Waging Peace
Waging Peace and visits and supports Sudanese nationals being held in detention centres and prisons across the UK.
