39 Alpha, 39 Bravo - The Sound Of Detention’s Economies
Earrational Measures (IT 2025)
10 min
9 Alpha, 39 Bravo tells the story of profit and exploitation within a specific immigration removal centre throughout 1 day, through data sonification.
It is an uncanny journey through the 24 hours of Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre (near Oxford, UK) in 2016, from the perspective of Pilo Moreno, the co-producer of this track and expert by experience. Pilo guides the listeners through a whole day in Campsfield House, retracing a generic day, a recurring and repeating sequence throughout the 5 months he spent there.
In the background, and as part of the track’s rhythmical backbone, you will hear how much three different characters earned in one day back in 2016: the director of the private corporation managing the removal Centre, the custody officer working in the facility, and a detainee who is employed by the centre for menial duties. All the sounds associated with the incomes of these three social actors were chosen by Pilo.
Through the juxtaposition of data-sonification, haunting sounds and first account narration, the listeners delve into the brutal economies of detention - characterised by extreme exploitation built on processes of dehumanisation which are woven into the daily practices and restrictions of UK Immigration Removal Centres.
The title - "39 Alpha, 39 Bravo"- is an explicit reference to the numbers of the bed Pilo and his cell mate were called by during their time in detention.