A SCANDAL-hit detention centre where vulnerable men were subjected to a “shocking pattern of inhumane and degrading treatment” should shut down, a public inquiry has been told. 

Stephanie Harrison QC, representing former detainees held at Brook House, near Gatwick, called on inquiry chair Kate Eves to follow the conclusions of inspectors that the site was an inappropriate environment for detainees.

“This inquiry should conclude that Brook House must not be used as an [immigration removal centre] going forward,” she said in her closing statement to the inquiry on Tuesday. 

The Brook House inquiry concludes on Wednesday following six weeks of hearings which heard from over 75 witnesses including former detainees, ex-staff and senior managers, Home Office officials, experts and healthcare staff. 

The probe is the first statutory public inquiry to investigate immigration detention in Britain, and was triggered by a BBC Panorama programme in 2017 which revealed alleged abuse and mistreatment of detainees by staff at Brook House, then run by security firm G4S.  

Ms Harrison said that during proceedings the inquiry had uncovered “shocking patterns of inhumane and degrading treatment of detained persons and the overuse and misuse of force and segregation used as punishment.”

She said there was “normalisation of pain, suffering and humiliation, even while detained when naked, or even when so emaciated that the person could barely hold his own body weight.”

“And, in addition, there was racism — vitriolic, casual and institutional — underscored by an underlying lack of empathy, even when individuals are at their most distressed and vulnerable.”

Following the broadcast, several G4S staff were laid off or resigned, including former Brook House boss Ben Saunders. 

However, Ms Harrison said that some officers whose misconduct had only been exposed by the inquiry were still working at Brook House, while others had been promoted. 

She said that the abuse went beyond the period documented by BBC Panorama, filmed between April and August 2017, and that an “institutional culture of bullying and intimidation” still exists there to this day. 

“There is evidence of increased complaints over the use and misuse of force,” she said.  

“This is critical to the inquiry’s considerations because it shows without any doubt that key themes of abuse over many years, including in 2017, still remain very much at play.”

Ms Harrison called for immediate action and said the inquiry must take a “fundamentally different approach to previous failed investigations and reviews.”

“Not because it is bold or political but because it is the only rational and logical consequence of where the evidence has taken this inquiry — alternatives to detention are available and must be found,” she added. 

The lawyer was particularly scathing of Home Office officials, who she said had confirmed in their evidence “a state body that is driven by political imperatives to sacrifice welfare on the altar of enforcement and administrative convenience.

“It relegates safeguarding of detainees to a virtual footnote in a contract that puts cost cutting over safety and care,” she added. 

Home Office denials that there was a systemic failure in 2017 is also of real concern, she said. 

“The wilful denial of Home Office responsibility cannot be reconciled with the evidence the inquiry has heard.

“This is important because it is the attitudes of men like these who are responsible for considering and implementing any recommendations the inquiry makes.”

During the inquiry, former detainees gave harrowing accounts of their experiences, including one man who was allegedly throttled by a former G4S guard. 

Recounting another former detainee’s testimony, Ms Harrison told the inquiry: “Brook House broke his moral and physical integrity, humiliated him, and destroyed his dignity as a human being. He said it made him a different person. And he is not alone.” 

She added that her clients believe that institutional factors, such as the hostile environment policy, directly contributed to the mistreatment of detainees in 2017. 

Ms Harrison urged the inquiry to also recommend changes to Home Office policy.