Bundled into a high-security van and issued with an ID number �like a prisoner�.

Bundled into a high-security van and issued with an ID number "like a prisoner".

Sufyan Rashid is recalling the day he and his family were taken to Dungavel Detention Centre in Lanarkshire without warning after a routine weekly sign-in at immigration offices.

The articulate 17-year-old describes how they were allowed outside for only one hour each day, their movements within the building restricted by a maze of sealed-off corridors.

Pakistan-born Sufyan said: "Dungavel was originally built to be a prison and that is what it was like. It is very frightening for children.

"They took us in a black van, like a police van, with a steel frame on the outside.

"They gave us ID numbers that we had to carry it with us at all times.

"If you wanted to go somewhere, you were taken by a security guard holding a walkie-talkie.

"If you were in the dining room having a meal, they sealed off the corridors outside.

"We tried to sleep at night but we couldn't. We were all really worried that we would be killed when we went back.

"The police force in my country is not honourable. It is really corrupt.

"I remember a comedian making the point that it is cheaper to send a family on a cruise than it is to send them to Dungavel."

Although his family were not forcibly removed during one of the notorious "dawn raids", Sufyan says he witnessed many incidents at his high-rise home in the Knightswood area of Glasgow, the scene of dozens of vigil protests.

The practice ignited Scottish opinion and produced a wave of demonstrations, highlighted by the "Glasgow Girls", a group of pupils from Drumchapel High School who expressed outrage at the heavy-handed way school friends had been removed.

John Donaldson, head of immigration at Glasgow City Council, said the main aim of the new Family Returns pilot project was to allow asylum seekers to return home "with dignity".

Families will be encouraged to view the process of moving into the flats as the first stage of their journey home.

He said: "We don't believe it is good for children to be in a detention centre.

"It is about encouraging families to take responsibility for their own return and to help them do this in the most humane way with personalised support plans."

Up to four families at a time will be housed in separate ex-council flats in the Kinning Park area of Glasgow for around 12 weeks before they are sent back to their country of origin.

Each will have access to basic household amenities such as a washing machine, fridge, furniture and TV before they are repatriated.

However, more importantly, according to those behind the project, families will be offered personalised support plans to help overcome any barriers to their return home, including fears over safety or financial worries.

Targeted support will be given to children and young people, many of whom may have spent more time in Glasgow than their home country.

This will include advice on ways in which they, and their parents, can transfer the education and experience they have gained in Glasgow, , such as English language skills, to their home country.

Mr Donaldson said: "Many of these children have spent a lot of time in Glasgow and they will be westernised.

"It may be that the parents want to return home but the children are reluctant. Our aim is to give families some space and time to talk through issues and to ease children's fears about returning."

Families will be able to come and go and will have access to legal advice, but there will be some supervision, with regular checks by Borders and Immigration Agency officials and, possibly, social workers, so that any absconding should be detected early.

Sufyan, who has now been granted permanent refugee status in Scotland, has welcomed the project. However, he believes that it may be difficult for the authorities to win the trust of some asylum-seekers, particularly those who have endured harsh treatment at the hands of immigration officials.

He said: "I get the point that one country can't give asylum to every person, but it can be done in a more humane way.

"Anything is better than being detained, but I think it is just another way for the government to keep an eye on families."

The project has been welcomed by Jean Donnachie, 67, from Glasgow, who lives in the controversial Kingsway flats where she has campaigned relentlessly against the practice of dawn raids, including rallying residents to set up daily patrols to look out for immigration vans.

She said: "I think this project is long overdue. It seems a lot more humane and it's definitely worth trying.

"However, if families have been here a long time, they may come up against a bit of fight because those children have been integrated in Scottish life."

The Scottish Refugee Council has said it will be monitoring the project closely over the coming months, particularly in view of the fact that detention will still be used as a final sanction for families who fail to return home voluntarily. Over the past 12 months, one family each month has been removed by a dawn raid.

John Wilkes, chief executive of the Scottish Refugee Council, said: "This pilot is an encouraging step towards treating asylum-seeking families at the end of the process with dignity and humanity.

"However, details of how the pilot will operate still have to be ironed out.

"To be a success, it must be properly assessed and evaluated.

"It also has to be a true alternative and not an addition to detention, and, as such, we would want to see a reduction in the numbers of asylum-seeking families and children being detained in Dungavel and other removal centres across the UK."

Asylum by numbers

6000 In 2000, a contract between Glasgow City Council and the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) aimed to provide 6000 homes to dispersed asylum seekers.

5000 Glasgow is home to the largest number of asylum seekers in the UK, with around 5000 currently living in the city.

1 In the past 12 months, one family a month in Scotland has been forcibly removed during a dawn raid.

308 In 2007-2008, 308 children were sent to Dungavel.

59 The Scottish UK Border Agency said 59% of failed asylum seekers have returned home voluntarily this year.

20 The new project will be able to accommodate around 20 families per year in a five-flat model.

2 A Mori poll found that the average person thinks Britain has received 23% of the world's asylum-seeking population: the true figure is less than 2%.