About this Handbook

The AVID Handbook for Visitors has been produced by AVID since 1995. The need for the handbook was first identified by members of the Winchester Action Group for Asylum Seekers who wanted to assist visitors and visitors groups to expand their support in more places of detention. A handbook ‘working party’ was formed of members of other visitors groups, as well as the Jesuit Refugee Service and Detention Advisory Service. This provided the very first edition.

I - at one point - had stood bail for a Zairian… and I (asked him) looking at things from the detainees' point of view, and what a detainee might want from a visitor, and that was incorporated into the first handbook… Non-judgmental, well-informed, listening and understanding.. and being truthful, certainly being truthful and being consistent as well.

- Audrey Atter, AVID Founder

Our aim in producing the handbook is to ensure that all visitors to places of detention have access to the information they need to fulfil their roles more effectively. This means that over the year the handbook has been revised and developed to best meet the needs of volunteer visitors.

Subsequent editions have updated the original in various ways. Credit must be given to Audrey Atter (the first editor), Helen Ireland (who produced several editions), Ali McGinley, who substantively revised editions from Handbook in 2011 and Adeline Trude who updated the 2018 version of the handbook. However, the Handbook has always been a collaborative process and it is impossible to name everyone who has been involved in the various editions we have produced over the years.

About this version

For the first time, we are making our handbook available in an open source online version.

This is the outcome of our most recent strategy process and resulting strategic framework (2023 – 2025) and the findings of a 2021 research project through Refugee Action’s Explore Programme on how we can make our resources more accessible to members of the AVID network and volunteers.

By making our handbook open source we hope to:

• Grow direct contact with volunteer visitors in the AVID network and make information more accessible by directly linking to the handbook from our website, with no login required.

• Ensure that visitors and AVID members have access to accurate information that is kept up to date as changes to legislation and detention policy happen – responding to the rapidly changing nature of detention policy and practice - instead of in periodic cycles when the handbook is updated in one go.

• Ensure that communities who are impacted by detention outside of the AVID network – including families and friends, people in and before detention, solidarity groups working with people without a regular status in the community and other NGOs – have access to accurate information on detention.

The AVID handbook is the only publication of its kind and represents our thirty year collective knowledge base on immigration detention. From what to expect when entering an immigration detention centre, accessing legal advice, detention law and policy, getting out of detention, and removal and deportation, it is an indispensable tool for anyone working with people in or at risk of detention. Since the handbook was first published, increasingly punitive measures against immigration have seen the use of immigration detention normalised as a tool of migration management. In this context, this knowledge is more vital than ever and we are committed to making it available to all of those advocating for migrant justice.

The handbook is designed to compliment additional support provided by AVID to visitor groups. If you are using this handbook as a visitor group to people in detention and are not part of the AVID network, we encourage you to contact us about joining and additional 1:1 support.

With thanks to Araniya Kogulathas and Adam Spray who supported the AVID team to update the legal chapters of the handbook. Thank you also to the Arhag Housing Association who provided funding to go towards the development of the online version of this handbook.

Updated sections on healthcare in detention are coming soon!