It’s not the most damning part of yesterday’s inspection report on the asylum seeker camp at Napier barracks, but it’s certainly the most ironic. Some of the staff charged with running the camp were themselves migrants working in breach of their visa conditions, according to the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders...
Inspectors observing a Home Office charter flight taking asylum seekers to France and Germany have found that coronavirus precautions were not followed. The report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons also found that pain was deliberately inflicted on three highly distressed people, although it was unable to say whether the use...
The independent prison inspector has raised the alarm over the continued detention of migrants who the Home Office accepts have been tortured. A scathing inspection report also found “considerable failings” in safety and respect for detainees at the “prison-like” Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre near Heathrow. HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Peter Clarke,...
There is supposed to be a fundamental difference between custodial incarceration and immigration detention. The former is reserved for those who have committed crimes: its purpose is punitive, to protect the public and to rehabilitate offenders. The latter, however, is meant to be administrative: a stepping stone for those who...
The new HM Chief Inspector of Prisons is not holding his punches. Peter Clarke’s first report is on the Harmondsworth detention camp used for short and long term detention of migrants near Heathrow airport. In an unannounced inspection his team found “appalling” and “desolate” conditions for detainees. You can access...
The Guardian is carrying a story that the Home Office has settled an unlawful detention claim by a pregnant asylum seeker detained at Yarl’s Wood and has said it will review its policy. The level of compensation is not disclosed. Detention policy is supposedly that pregnant asylum seekers will not...
Yesterday The Verne Immigration Removal Centre was criticised by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons for its “prison-like” regime and high levels of violence and today HMCIP described Yarl’s Wood as an issue “of national concern”. These are damning inspection reports and the Government’s only response is to express “disappointment” and point to...
