Skip to main content
Advertise with the Morning Star
‘Locked up for 13 hours as the profits rocket’

IMMIGRATION detainees are being locked up for 13 hours a day to save money on staffing and pump up profits for private contractors, the High Court heard today.

Three former detainees in the notorious Brook House removal centre, near Gatwick, are taking legal action against allegedly “unlawful” conditions at the site where they were locked up for 13 hours a day. 

The three, who are all refugees from Afghanistan, were locked up in “small, dirty and unhygienic” rooms from 9pm to 8am every day as well as two one-hour lock-ins each afternoon. 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
POLICING THE POLICE: GLC leader Ken Livingstone (centre), wi
Features / 10 March 2023
10 March 2023
In an exclusive investigation, BETHANY RIELLY looks at how the state targeted leading politicians and campaigning groups — labelling many well-known figures 'extremists' and 'subversives' for attempting to hold the police to account
Eritrean female soldiers
Features / 12 December 2022
12 December 2022
On September 4, 16 Eritrean asylum-seekers were arrested at a protest against their country’s dictatorship and its supporters here. Since then, questions have been raised about whether the British authorities are doing enough to protect activists and asylum-seekers from the ‘long arm’ of the regime in Asmara
Similar stories
HUMAN RIGHTS OUTRAGE: Thousands of Venezuelans march in Cara
Features / 29 March 2025
29 March 2025
Under Trump, the hunt for migrants has reopened — resulting in a mass deportation of innocent Venezuelans to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador. MARC VANDEPITTE tells the story of 24-year-old barber Francisco Casique whose tattoos and country of origin were enough to make him disappear behind bars without trial
EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW:
Barristers from the Criminal Bar
As
Features / 10 January 2025
10 January 2025
Removing unnecessary bureaucracy and other avoidable costs could save up to a quarter-billion, giving us painless solutions to protect legal aid, writes PROFESSOR ANSELM ELDERGILL
SITTING PRETTY: (Left to right) Baroness Liddell, Claire Kob
Features / 29 November 2024
29 November 2024
Let’s take a closer look at the sprawling network of former ministers, political insiders and officials who make money from the firms responsible for soldiers’ squalid accommodation, writes SOLOMON HUGHES