A campaign group has renewed calls to close an immigration detention centre after a second inmate suicide within seven years.
Ianos Dragutan, 31, from Northampton, was found hanged in a shower cubicle at Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre in Kidlington on August 2 last year. An inquest jury at Oxford Old Assizes returned a verdict of suicide yesterday.
In 2005, Kurdish teenager Ramazan Kumluca also killed himself after spending more than four months in Campsfield.
A member of local pressure group Campaign To Close Campsfield, who wished to remain anonymous, said outside Mr Dragutan’s inquest: “It’s a personal tragedy for the individual and the family and it is a sad state of affairs that the shower facilities at Campsfield are suitable places for people to hang themselves.
“This is the second suicide now and it should encourage more people to see the injustices that are occurring at Campsfield and we should all be demanding it should be closed.”
After the death of Mr Dragutan, of Norfolk Street, Semilong, Northampton, the campaign group held a vigil for him in Carfax.
Oxford Coroner Darren Salter said Mr Dragutan, who was born in Moldova, first arrived in the UK in 2002. He was arrested by police in May 2011 for possessing false documentation and, after pleading guilty to the offence, he served three months in jail at London’s Wandsworth Prison.
When he was released from prison on July 27 2011, he was taken by police to Wales over fraud allegations, the jury heard.
On July 31 he was taken to Campsfield, where he spoke to inmate Muqadam Quyyum. Mr Quyyum told the inquest that Mr Dragutan had said he felt “under pressure” and “wanted to be released soon”.
Two days later, on the morning of his death, Mr Dragutan was told by officers at Campsfield to collect his belongings because he was going to be released.
Detention custody officer Kenneth Harsham told the inquest that Mr Dragutan was being freed so Northamptonshire Police could arrest him regarding an alleged sexual offence.
He said: “Usually people are happy when they are told they will be released. They are usually happy and joyful but he (Mr Dragutan) was very quiet and that was my main concern.”
Mr Harsham said he believed Mr Dragutan was not aware he was due to be arrested on release from Campsfield.
But the inquest heard that Mr Dragutan’s lawyer had told him in a previous telephone conversation that he was due to be questioned over an allegation of rape that occurred in the Northampton area a number of years ago.
When the police arrived at the centre to make the arrest, Mr Dragutan left the waiting room and entered the shower block where he was found hanging by detention custody officer Stephen Simmons.
Mr Simmons said medical staff and paramedics were quick to respond to the incident but, after CPR attempts failed, Mr Dragutan was pronounced dead at the scene.
A spokesman for Practice, the private company which provides the healthcare services at Campsfield, said that, since the death of Mr Dragutan, a new emergency call system has been installed at the centre to assist staff dealing with serious incidents.
Mr Salter said he was satisfied that “several steps” had been taken by Campsfield to ensure appropriate “medical responses” take place.
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