Month: July 2016

28 July 2016

In its latest inspection report on Colnbrook detention centre, HM Inspector of Prisons said ‘There should be a strict time limit on the length of detention and caseworkers should act with diligence and expedition.’   

Colnbrook detention centre, near Heathrow Airport, detains up to 396 migrants, including 27 women who are held in a separate unit.  The centre suffered from a lack of maintenance during the period of management contract transfer from Serco to Mitie a few years ago, resulting in significant deterioration of parts of the centre. 

The inspection team said that the numbers of cases of prolonged detention they found were lower than in their last inspection in 2013 but were ‘still too high’; out of 322 who were in custody at the time of inspection, 32 had been there between six and 12 months; 20 between one and two years and three people for more than two years.  One person was continuously detained for four years and eight months, whose case ‘had been exacerbated by casework inefficiencies and administrative delays’. 

The inspection team found some casework to be poor; some detention reviews ‘did not consider factors for and against detention in a balanced way’ and some cases which would not be concluded within a reasonable period of time were also still detained. 

The report also recommends that people with severe mental illnesses should not be in immigration detention. Other recommendations to the Home Office include:

– All individuals at the detention advice surgeries should be given enough time to explain their circumstances and receive appropriate advice over the full allocated half-hour interview.


– The Home Office should stop the practice of preventing people who are deemed uncooperative from working.

– People in detention should have access to Skype and social networking sites unless an individual risk assessment determines that this is inappropriate.  

– Only those individuals volunteering for removal should be placed on a reserve list for a charter flight.

The inspection found that 48% of those detained felt depressed or suicidal when they first arrived.  Yet, no private interview on arrival means that that there is no effective assessment of needs, although full risk assessments are carried out within a few days of arrival.  The report also reveals that there is an ongoing investigation into a death which happened in February 2016. 

Following an escape in December 2015, the use of handcuffs has increased from 30% to 55%.  Those detained remain confined in their cells from 9pm to 8am. Only just over 50% of the surveyed said that they were treated with respect. 

Overall, the report paints a mixed picture of the detention centre, which appeared to be still in the process of stabilising itself after a contract change.  The inspection team also found:

– the new management now allows for free movement of individuals in the centre, achieving a calmer atmosphere

– improved use of the Rule 35 procedure, a safeguarding mechanism for vulnerable individuals to be considered for release on medical grounds

– a well functioning welfare team, better access to recreational activities, positive teaching and learning despite a narrow range of available education

– the poor state of the induction unit

– continuity and consistency of healthcare provision is compromised as a result of staff shortages

– although mental health care and support was generally good, ‘it was concerning that people with such severe illnesses were in immigration detention at all, especially as some spent long period in the separation unit’

You can read the full report here. 

 

22 July 2016

UK’s National Preventive Mechanism calls for a time limit on immigration detention

UK’s official detention watchdog has confirmed that it supports the view that there should be a time limit over immigration detention.  HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales Annual Report 2015–16, published recently, explains that this official position was formally endorsed by the UK’s National Preventive Mechanism in November 2015. 

The National Preventive Mechanism is designated by the states which have signed the treaty, the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT).  Through regular, independent monitoring of places of detention, the NPM aims to provide a safeguard against torture and ill-treatment that could happen in detention. 

The National Preventive Mechanism, and also HMIP by implication, join a number of national and international bodies who have called for a time limit on immigration detention over the years.  The Equality and Human Rights Commission, the United Nation’s Committee against Torture and European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and some of the Independent Monitoring Boards have repeatedly expressed their grave concern over UK’s routine practice long-term deprivation of liberty of irregular migrants and have called for a time limit. 

The issue of a time limit was also one of the key themes which emerged from a number of critical reports, including the report of the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Use of Immigration Detention and the Home Office commissioned Review into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons. 

UK detains around 4,000 people with irregular migration status on any given day.  There are nine detention centres (Immigration Removal Centres) and several Short Term Holding Facilities in the UK where such individuals are locked up.  In addition, around 400 irregular migrants are also held in prisons, with less access to legal advice and other support than in detention centres. 

Other concerns highlighted by the annual report 2015/16 include:

– Better outcomes are observed in smaller facilities, such as Tinsley and Dungavel. Larger facilities inspected ‘tend to be less safe and respectful’;

– A safeguarding mechanism for people who are ill, victims of torture or trafficking (Rule 35) was not functioning properly in any of the facilities inspected.  This meant that the most vulnerable were not afforded protection they desperately needed;

– There was no adequate safeguarding procedures in Yarl’s Wood detention centre, particularly for those who are vulnerable.  While in the past, there were ‘proven instances of inappropriate sexual relationships between staff and detainees which, given the power imbalance and vulnerability of detained women, were clearly abusive’, their latest inspection found ‘no evidence of a current widespread abusive or hostile culture among staff’;

– Staff members were generally respectful to those who are detained in the centres;

– Accommodation and infrastructure remained ‘prison-like’. 

In one of the most shocking cases, in summer 2015 HMIP discovered by chance a previously unknown detention facility operating in Dover during their regular inspection of other Short Term Holding Facilities in the area.  Men, women and children who have just arrived in the UK were detained in so-called ‘Longport Freight Shed’, the unofficial detention facility, which had unacceptably poor conditions without sufficient food. According to the report, this facility is currently not being used and HMIP recommends the facility to be closed down permanently. 

You can read the report here.   

 

 

21 July 2016

The Government announced today that they are moving the location of child detention from Cedars Pre-Departure Accommodation to a ‘discrete unit’ within Tinsley House Immigration Removal Centre, near Gatwick Airport. 

Cedars Pre Departure Accommodation currently detains families with children facing forced removal.  There is a 72 hour detention time limit for families with children, extendable up to seven days with ministerial authorization. 

This was the first official statement by the new Immigration Minister, Robert Goodwill.  Goodwill inherits the detention reform programme started by his predecessor, James Brokenshire, in response to a number of damning reports which exposed the harm detention causes and called for radical reform of the system.  In his statement, the Minister explained that this decision was made ‘on value for money grounds’ since the facility was not used very frequently. 

Cedars Pre-Departure Accommodation was build as part of the Coalition Government’s pledge to end immigration detention of children in 2010.  The family returns model, overseen by the Independent Family Returns Panel, was introduced as part of these reforms.  This new process has reduced the number of children detained, although it has not entirely eradicated child detention. 

The latest official statistics illustrate this downward trend.  According to the National Statistics ‘The number of children entering detention in the year ending March 2016 was 110, 24% lower than the previous year (144). This was a 90% fall compared with the 2009, the year prior to the changes (1,119).’

(Source: Home Office, Immigration Statistics January to March 2016, available on this page.

 

Barnardo’s, a children’s charity involved in the running of Cedars, issued a statement expressing their concern that the welfare of children will be compromised by the move to Tinsley House.  They will not be working with families with children detained at the new Pre-Departure Accommodation at Tinsley House. 

In the last unannounced inspection report, Her Majesty’s Inspector of Prison, while stating that ‘Cedars is a high quality, well managed institution’, acknowledged the distress experienced by detained families as ‘disturbing’.  The report says ‘Among the 42 families held in 2013, force (mostly low level) had been used on 10 occasions, suicide and self-harm procedures had been initiated 25 times and there had been two recorded incidents of actual self-harm. Detainees had been placed on constant watch on 12 occasions.’

Eiri Ohtani, of the Detention Forum said:

‘There is global recognition and consensus that detention is never in the best interests of the child. 

‘The priority for the Government should be to continue to work towards eradicating child detention, in line with the commitment made in 2010 to end detention of children which remains unfulfilled. The Government has also recently promised to reform the detention system, reflecting the findings of the Shaw Review and the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Use of Immigration Detention. 

‘While we acknowledge that the number of children detained has declined since 2010, moving the location of child detention to the grounds of a detention centre could further compromise the welfare of children who continue to be detained.’ 

Ali McGinley, of the Association of the Visitors to Immigration Detainees added:

‘At a time when the welfare needs of the most vulnerable have been prioritised by a Government commissioned review, the Shaw Review and while steps are being taken to reduce the detention of vulnerable people such as pregnant women, this move represents a huge step backwards in terms of the detention of children, arguably the most vulnerable of all.

‘Transferring their detention from Cedars to Tinsley House, an immigration removal centre, is a retrograde move that will see children held behind bars in a higher security environment wholly incompatible with their welfare needs.’  

20 July 2016

After the Cabinet reshuffle, we now have a new Home Secretary (Amber Rudd) and a new Immigration Minister (Robert Goodwill).

It is important that the new Minister is made aware, while he is still new to the post, that there is so much more that needs to be done about immigration detention in the UK. 

In particular, we need to ensure that the reform programme which was started by the previous Immigration Minister, James Brokenshire, will not stall. 

As you remember, in response to the findings of the Shaw Review, James Brokenshire said in a written statement on 14 January 2016 that the Government “accepts the broad thrust” of the recommendations Mr Shaw made.  He also made explicit the Government’s commitment to publish the Immigration Enforcement Business Plan for 2016/17, which would say more about the Government’s plans for the future shape and size of the detention estate.  The Plan has not been published yet.   

It would be very helpful if you could contact your MPs and urging them to write to the new Minister asking him to promise to continue with the detention reform agenda. 

In addition, you could also ask your MPs to submit written questions so that the Minister is aware that there continues to be cross-party support for detention reform. 

Below are some sample written questions for your information.  There is no need to ask your MPs to submit all the questions; perhaps you can choose one or two that you feel most strongly about and say why.  You should feel free to develop your own questions as well.  

• To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she expects Stephen Shaw to complete his follow-up review of the use of immigration detention

• To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will introduce a maximum time limit on the length of time an individual can be detained under immigration powers

• To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Written Statement of 14 January 2016, HCWS470, when does she intend to publish the Immigration Enforcement’s Business Plan for 2016/17

• To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the evidence of the impact the lack of a time limit on immigration detention has on people detained in immigration removal centres

• To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what mechanisms are in place to monitor the application of section 60 of the Immigration Act 2016

• To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she believes that fewer people will be detained in immigration removal powers as a result of the Immigration Act 2016 and her Department’s response to Stephen Shaw’s report in the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons

• To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how the impact of the Adults at Risk policy for vulnerable people detained under immigration powers will be measured

• To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what consultation has taken place on the draft Adults at Risk policy for vulnerable people detained under immigration powers

The Detention Forum team

Social media volunteers needed!

2 July 2016

We are looking for two to three volunteers who can help us increase our social media presence by;

• making sure our Twitter account is always active
• publishing regularly small pieces of detention-related news that we can share with others
• collating immigration detention related news
• attending detention-related events and file reports about such events

You need to have;

• Solid experience of working or volunteering in a NGO or in a team
• General understanding of immigration detention in the UK (you don’t need to be an expert!)
• Experience of Internet-based research to find information
• Solid experience of using Twitter (you need to have actively used Twitter at least for three months)
• Demonstrable ability to communicate clearly in English
• Ability to work on your own initiative and complete tasks on time
• Access to a computer and Internet connection
• Any design / art / creative skills are a big plus – let us know what skills you have.

You don’t need to be in London but you need to be able to communicate with us over emails and Skype as and when necessary.  We are especially keen to hear from people who can report how their local communities are affected by immigration detention.  

Please do not apply if you do not meet these criteria. 

The Detention Forum currently has one part-time freelance worker who works one to two days a week and five part-time volunteers. They work from home and communicate each other via Skype and emails. You can see why you need to be a self-starter and reliable if you want to join our team!

Due to our limited resources and time, the only tools of communication we have with the outside world are emails, our website and Twitter – so for us, social media work is very important.

We would like the volunteers to be available at least one day a week for at least five months.

The Detention Forum also runs an exciting project, Unlocking Detention, every year.  This year’s “tour” will start from October and end in December You can find more about last year’s #unlocked at www.unlocked.org.uk

If you are interested, please send the following to detentionforum@gmail.com by 24 July 2016.

• your CV
• a short covering letter addressing the above points, confirming that you are available for the training and interview, if recruited/shortlisted
• details of your Twitter account
• a short written piece, up to 300 words, on immigration detention (you can write about any topic and theme relating to immigration detention)

We will contact those who are shortlisted.

Volunteering at the Detention Forum is a lot of work.  However, you will get to learn more about immigration detention and you also have a chance to learn how groups like the Detention Forum, its members and other groups around the UK are challenging the government to reduce and end immigration detention.

We look forward to hearing from you.

The Detention Forum team