The detainees’ statements and stories

Voices from inside

A letter of complaint from the detainees

In July 2023, a group of inmates wrote this call to the outside world:

Here is the text from the image (edited).

From Ellebæk Prisoners

Complaint Letter

We complain that three security guards in Ellebæk treat us in disrespectful ways. We cannot ask them for what we need. For example, the times we need to throw out waste, when we ask them anything, they banish you and put you in the isolation room. Sometimes they beat the prisoners and use spray in our eyes.

We hear inmates crying loudly and then they are sent to Vestre (criminal prison).

They also bring sick people to our section, and every day we eat plastic food, which is not good for our health. No basic human rights. We do not have telephones or freedom rights. We live here as animals, and no one from the media can even visit us.

Experiences from former prisoners in Ellebæk

JOINT STATEMENT FROM THE PRISONERS LOCKED-UP IN ELLEBÆK 14th of august 2019

This is a joint statement from the prisoners who were wrongfully imprisoned in Ellebæk Fængslet. This statement was written by Andrew Martins, block 18 Øst-Cell No. 45

First and foremost, I want to welcome you all to this peaceful demonstration. We do appreciate that you took time to be part of this beautiful and very peaceful demonstration. The time you guys have spared so that this demonstration can take place is very much appreciated.

I will start by mentioning the time range that most of us have spent here in Ellebæk. As of now, me as Andrew, I have been locked up for 9 months and 9 days. Many in here have been locked up for 6 months and more. I just give count because they are so many.

I would like to inform everyone who is here today that Ellebæk is HELL. Ellebæk has been used by police to humiliate, segregate and racially profile people who came to ask asylum. We who have been locked up in Ellebæk, were not criminals for your information, even though the police treats us like we are criminals.

The approach used by police to lock up people who came to ask protection, me as Andrew feel is a wrong measure, it is a sick alternative. Police has always conducted its duties with a lot of rage, hate and discrimination.

Here in Ellebæk, I have seen a number of people become mentally ill. At several occasions, some have tried to commit suicide.

The last suicide we got to know about was Tesfaye from Ethiopia. He took his own life because he couldn’t cope with the mess within Ellebæk. Therefore, all of you here must know that Ellebæk is a death zone.

Many were brought to Ellebæk when they were normal but the conditions in Ellebæk have made quite a big number to become mad. In other words, mentally sick.

As you all know, smoking is a get away from stress, anxiety and depression and many other things. However, in Ellebæk, smoking is highly controlled, and if found with a cigarette that you have not even smoked, it does carry a certain sort of punishment. If not lucky you can go to isolation. The security dictates the number of cigarettes a person is allowed to smoke. Muhamed has been going through a lot of pain because he can’t smoke the cigarettes he wants.

Mobile phones are confiscated at the time of arrival. Once you’ve been caught with a mobile phone in the prison premises, a person is always put in isolation for a minimum of 15 days. I was put in isolation for 17 days. At most times, the police takes the mobile phones and does not return them to the prison centre. My phone was taken away from me last year in November 2018. But up to now the Police refused to bring it back to the Prison Centre. I didn’t take numbers from my phone.

I spoke to Siraj, also here in Ellebæk. He says that police took him from the asylum centre and put him in Ellebæk that is where he is doing his asylum procedure. He is very much frustrated, he doesn’t know why he is being treated like that.

Hussein from Morocco explains that a security guard broke his arm when he was found with an extra cigarette that he didn’t smoke. He was later put in isolation when he questioned the guard as to why he was very cruel and rude towards Hussein.

Bali from Algeria also explains that during the time of arrest, the police beat him up and up to date he feels like he has a broken rib.

Many of you who have turned up to this beautiful demonstration, you have been made to believe that people inside Ellebæk are criminals. Well I must tell you that we’re not criminals neither have we been involved in any criminal activity. The police however is using Ellebæk as a way to create a bad image towards asylum seekers. Police in my own understanding is wasting tax-payers money to lock up people who came to ask for protection.

I would like to ask everyone who has turned up today, always and always find time to visit people in Ellebæk. Your visit to Ellebæk makes a difference.

Lastly, I would like to thank the following people for the effort, time and support they have showed to people in Ellebæk.

We as people in Ellebæk, we do thank the priest Per, who has greatly showed us support in faith and prayer. Both Per and his team are very much appreciated.

I would personally like to thank Elisabet for the support you have always showed to people here in Ellebæk.

I wish I could tell you more, but because of time allow me to end here.

Remember, Love wins

Andrew Martins

14th August 2019

Shivan. Report. April 2019.

I worked full-time in Copenhagen. I paid my taxes and lived with my sister and her husband. It had been a long process to obtain a work permit, but I had finally started a more independent life. On March 29 I was summoned by the police and on the same day I was arrested and moved to Ellebæk prison. They told me the rules had been changed. And they said that I had signed a document in 2014 to be sent back to Iraq. They manipulate you.

I was in prison for a year and a month. Every four weeks we would have our court case with a judge, but the judge played no role in the decision-making process. It was in the hands of the police. I saw the proof of this because twice the judge decided to release me from prison, but both times the police objected and filed a complaint against me. So I stayed in prison.

It was really dirty there. When you arrived at the ward where I lived and entered the first room, it was the only one that was clean. When people visited from outside, they were only shown the first room. It was smelly and dirty in the other rooms. People were often sick. I lived in the same room and I cleaned it every day.

During my time in Ellebæk, I experienced the poor treatment there. I was told by a friend that before I arrived in Ellebæk, a Moroccan guy committed suicide in prison. He hanged himself. He had been under pressure for a long time to leave Denmark. When he said he was freezing and the food was cold, they wanted him to just leave and go back to Morocco. When I was in prison, I heard with my own ears and saw with my own eyes how the guards beat an old man and put him in a solitary cell. The old man screamed in pain as the guards beat him brutally.

I also experienced how a young guy in his early twenties was very mentally ill. He lived in the room next to me. The guy needed his medicine, but he only got it when the nurse was present, so he had long waiting times without medical help. He was very tired of everything, he told me. He didn’t want to live anymore. He brought many wires into his room to hang himself. I called my friends and with their help we saved him. He was moved to another prison afterward.

The press was not allowed in the prison. It was forbidden to take pictures so that the secrets and ill-treatment of prisoners would not be revealed. The staff would give expired food to the prisoners. One day my brother came for a visit and brought some food and did not find any plates to put the food on. My brother asked the guards if there were plates but they told him he could put food on the lid of the bin. The guards wanted to humiliate us in every way. Some people in Ellebæk stated that they would rather die than stay in prison.

I was released on 2 May by the Supreme Court, and after that, I was moved to the departure center Kjærshovedgård in Jutland.