Could the lamp shop live on?Jailhouse chicThey have a special magazine for inhabitants of Berlin's prisons, called Lichtblick (Ray of Hope), and it seems to confirm that even among jailbirds, the capital is the only place to be.Lichtblick last week reported an upsurge in small ads placed by prisoners begging to swap their cells in Munich, Frankfurt and Leipzig for a room with a (barred) view in Berlin. "Landsberg Prison is near to Munich, and even has a swimming pool and football field!" wrote one criminal, in an attempt to entice a Berlin prisoner southwards. The building is currently hosting an art exhibition, aptly enough, on death.It was all meant to come to a close this weekend, with the wrecking balls due in December But there has been a last-minute reprieve. There has also been a row over its planned replacement, a faux Disneyland copy of the Hohenzollern royal palace that once stood on the site. Not only that: the copper cube has been reinvented as a cult tourist attraction.
Stripped to a shell since the rubber-stamp parliament ceased to exist, its demolition seemed a formality. Yet ageing Communists have been joined by lovers of kitsch in their opposition to sweeping away "Erich's Lamp Shop", as the Palace of the Republic is more affectionately known - the name is due to the huge number of light bulbs it once contained. The great neo-classical repositories of art and antiquities have been restored at huge expense, and attract many visitors. All this has made the former East German parliament building even more of an eyesore. This cubist confection of steel and copper-coloured glass, plonked on to the island in the River Spree, was hated both aesthetically and as a symbol of oppression. Since the two halves of Berlin were joined back together, Museum Island has come into its own. This means they do not receive the care they need and instead are left to fend for themselves.Anne Owers, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, who wrote the Yarl's Wood report, said social workers should be brought in to monitor the cases of children held in detention..
However, they have now introduced new measures to review cases of children held for more than 21 days.Yarl's Wood, in Bedfordshire, is now the main place where families are sent when their applications for asylum are turned down. An inspection report on the centre, published earlier this year, revealed that young children were being "damaged" by their experiences of detention. In one case, a five-year-old autistic girl was so badly neglected that she had not eaten properly for four days.Professor Aynsley-Green's investigation is also expected to look into reports that immigration officers often refuse to believe the age of young immigrants who come to this country alone, even if it is obvious they are children. In one case, a nine-month-old baby spent seven weeks living in detention centres with his parents until the family was eventually released on bail.Ministers have repeatedly refused to release precise monthly statistics, despite pressure from MPs and children's charities. Many are deprived of proper schooling, allowed little exercise and denied access to proper medical care. He said: "The way young people are treated by the immigration authorities and the awful facilities where they are being held made the hair stand up on the back of my neck."The means of taking families into detention seem to be inadequate and heavy-handed."Human rights abuses of asylum-seeking children, including young babies, is a key concern for campaign groups. Professor Al Aynsley-Green, England's first Children's Commissioner, says the needs of immigrant children are a "very urgent issue", especially those locked up with their parents in removal centres. A consultant paediatrician, Professor Aynsley-Green spoke at a Refugee Council conference last week.
