Maria Gortova, a medical nurse from Ukraine who was detained for over 5 months in 4 detention centres in the UK, manages the Medical Justice referrals process, including getting independent doctors in to detention centres to see patients.

Maria's father was an opposition MP in Ukraine and her husband was also involved in political activities, for which they were persecuted.  Maria, her husband and their two children fled to the UK.

Maria and her husband were detained in Yarl’s Wood in 2002 where guards separated her from her husband as their marriage was disbelieved, despite providing the guards with a copy of their marriage certificate. 

Later, a riot and fire was triggered by four detention centre guards manhandling a 51 year old woman to the ground.  The woman had a uterine prolapse and had been denied medical attention.  The wooden-framed detention centre, built to hold 900 men, women and children, did not have a sprinkler system.   Half the detention centre burned down.  Guards were told to lock detainees into the burning building. 

Maria’s husband was announced missing, but later found alive.  After the fire, Maria and her husband were transferred to Harmondsworth detention centre.  Later, Maria’s husband objected to being taken from Harmondsworth to an unknown destination.  He was restrained in front of Maria, kicked, punched, handcuffed and taken to an isolation cell for 4 days, after which he and Maria were taken to Dungavel detention centre in a security van.
 
Maria had a bad cough for 3 months due to smoke inhalation from the fire at Yarl’s Wood.  She was prescribed steroids without proper examination which harmed her health further. On asking for help, she was told by the detention centre to go outside and get fresh air. Also suffering from smoke , inhalation Maria'sahusband became ill, and was only prescribed paracetamol. 

Using her own experience as a medical professional, Maria did her best to treat her husband.  Having been denied access to hot water – Maria had to make a written request to the manager of the detention centre to be allowed to have one litre of hot water to use to treat her husband the best she could.

Maria was eventually released but her husband was kept in detention for a total of 1 year and 5 months.  They took legal action and were compensated for the assault on Maria’s husband in a detention centre but have not been granted leave to remain in the UK.

They live in Houndslow with their two children. They applied for leave to remain in a one-off exercise by the Home Office to grant leave to remain to asylum seeking families that have been in the UK since 2000. They applied in 2004 and have not yet had a response from the Home Office.

Prevented from working due to her immigration status, Maria is slowly being de-skilled in the UK.  She travels long distances to volunteer in the Medical Justice office where she uses her experience both as an ex-detainee and a trained nurse to help avoid the medical abuse she suffered in detention.