A TEACHER who sees at first hand the heartache of Dungavel detention centre's asylum seekers has called for it to be shut.
A TEACHER who sees at first hand the heartache of Dungavel detention centre's asylum seekers has called for it to be shut.
Linda McMahon, of Pollokshields, Glasgow said the former jail in Lanarkshire is "like a prison whose residents don't when they'll be released".
The 56-year-old is one of 20 volunteers who, through the Scottish Detainee Visitors scheme, supports people held there.
Every second Monday Linda visits asylum seekers who often feel depressed and isolated and she said: "Sometimes they want to talk about what they are going through other times they just want you to hold their hand."
Mum-of-four Linda, an English teacher at Mearns Castle Secondary, Newton Mearns, added: "We don't get to see their rooms but go into a big waiting area.
"I want Dungavel closed and I don't think we should have detention centres."
Dungavel, near Strathaven, can take almost 150 people and includes a 56-bed family unit.
Campaigners have called for the detention of children there to end, a move backed by Children's Secretary Fiona Hyslop who said: "The Scottish Government remain fundamentally opposed to dawn raids and the detention of children."
A Home Office spokesman added that the centre received praise last week in an annual report.
He said: "Her Majesty's Chief Inspectorate of Prisons has found Dungavel is a well-run establishment, founded on very good relationships between staff and detainees."
