13/10/2022
Police Oracle
A review of the experience of immigration detainees held in prisons published today by the prison inspectorate has found that they were markedly disadvantaged compared with those held in immigration removal centres (IRCs)
The review finds that many immigration detainees get stuck in custody for long periods with little or no progress in their cases being made by the Home Office. An indication of the scale of the problem was the story of one detainee who told inspectors she had agreed to return home and had offered to fund her own flight costs, but over six weeks later she had not received any clear updates about when it would be possible for her to travel. In other cases, the Home Office’s own independent case progression panel had recommended detainees be released. Yet they remained behind bars in prisons already under enormous strain with well-publicised staff shortages.
Context
The number of detainees held in prisons under immigration powers rose sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic and immigration detainees continue to be held in most prisons in the country, although they comprise a very small proportion of each prison’s population. However, they face distinct challenges when compared with prisoners serving criminal sentences and immigration detainees held in IRCs.
On 31 March this year, 621 people were held in UK prisons under immigration powers. Immigration detainees are distinct from prisoners in that they held for administrative, rather than judicial reasons – they are not serving criminal sentences but are held in prison while the Home Office attempts to remove them from the UK. The detainees held in prisons in the UK are former offenders who have completed their criminal sentence, and whom the Home Office has decided to hold in prison rather than an IRC.
Findings
The inspectors’ principal finding is that immigration detainees held in prisons were substantially disadvantaged in terms of legal safeguards and welfare when compared with those in IRCs, and that the impact of detention on their well-being was considerable.
The progression of detainees’ immigration cases was not adequate in too many of the cases we reviewed, which meant that people were subject to avoidable periods of often lengthy immigration detention. This, combined with a lack of meaningful information from the Home Office regarding their case progression, had led to frustration and feelings of helplessness in detainees, who said they were often confused about what was happening. Slow case progression within the immigration system in general, and the restrictions on face-to-face contact during the pandemic, had compounded this problem, according to the inspectorate.
This lack of communication was often exacerbated by language barriers. In many prisons visited, the inspectorate said telephone interpretation services were not routinely used when updating prisoners on their cases, and immigration papers were routinely served in English. Many detainees had to ask other prisoners to translate and explain information, which could lead to further confusion.
Key concerns
In addition to the fact that many immigration detainees were held in prisons for long periods with minimal progress in their cases, the inspectors identified a number of additional key concerns: