Globally, immigration detention is one of the most opaque and least accountable areas of public administration. Effective monitoring of conditions of immigration detention is vital. It opens up an otherwise closed and often dangerously secretive world. It increases transparency and accountability. It helps to make detainees safer and increases pressure on states to use non-custodial alternatives to detention.

It protects some of the world’s most vulnerable people. Quite literally, it can save lives. Imagine being able to use digital technology to monitor conditions more frequently, more systematically, and more efficiently.

Imagine being able to use that technology to capture, triangulate and show data more comprehensively. Imagine being able to provide official monitors with more structured alerts and insights into patterns and trends in detention practices.

Imagine being able to harness that data to change detention policies and institutional cultures. Boniĝi, established in 2017, is a social enterprise making this imagined future a reality.

Never has the use of immigration detention been so widespread. There is a serious need for data on immigration detention in many countries

The Global Compacts on Migration and Refugees highlight these data and detention deficits. The evidence of the human cost of immigration detention is undeniable. The transformative potential of digital technology is impossible to ignore. Non-custodial, community-based alternatives are a better public policy choice. Alternatives to detention are less harmful and a more responsible use of public funds