PRISON inspectors have condemned the “horrifying” conditions at a west London immigration detention centre, with refugees forced to live in violent, overcrowded and abusive surroundings.
The “shocking” problems at Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) were reported four months ago, with HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor complaining to then home secretary James Cleverly shortly after the inspectors’ visit in February. However, he received no response.
In a report published today following a return visit, inspectors say conditions at the detention centre — run by security firm Mitie — have deteriorated further.
“Much of the accommodation was decrepit, [while] violence and other unacceptable behaviour such as drug use had substantially increased and there had been numerous serious attempts at suicide in the centre,” the report states.
“Population pressures in prisons meant far more former prisoners were being held in Harmondsworth alongside those with no criminal conviction.”
Cells for a single prisoner held two and men refusing to “double-up” were kept in a “separation unit” until they agreed to share, the inspectors found.
Almost half of the centre’s prisoners who completed a survey said that they felt suicidal and two-thirds felt unsafe.
The report said that the centre has insufficient staff numbers, with Mitie’s contract awarded through a “shambolic” Home Office tendering system.
Mr Taylor said: “The level of chaos that we found at Harmondsworth was truly shocking and we left deeply concerned that some of those held there were at imminent risk of harm.”
He stressed that most of the refugees detained should not have been there in the first place.
“Nobody should be detained in an immigration removal centre unless they are going to be removed quickly from the country,” the chief inspector said.
“Yet around 60 per cent of detainees were released from the centre, with only a third deported, which begs the question of why so much taxpayer money was being spent keeping them locked up in the first place.”
Former Harmondsworth detainee Kolbassia Haoussou, now working with charity Freedom from Torture, said: “Harmondsworth is only the latest in what has been a painful series of scandals and shameful revelations about the barbaric reality of immigration detention.
“It is, by its very nature, dehumanising, abusive and violent. The new government has committed to rebuild a just asylum system that respects human dignity and the rule of law.
“But the detention of refugees can play no part in an asylum system that is fair, efficient and compassionate.”
The Refugee Council described the inspectors’ report as “horrifying,” with spokeswoman Woodren Brade saying: “The idea that people come to this country in search of safety, having fled war, conflict and persecution in their home countries, only to get locked up in a detention centre with conditions like the ones mentioned in this report is deeply concerning.”
She called on new Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to investigate.
Care4Calais chief executive Steve Smith added: “The inhumane conditions inside Britain’s detention centres are bad for people’s physical and mental health.
“The incoming government should acknowledge that the UK’s detention system destroys lives, end prolonged periods in detention and introduce humane alternatives.”
Mitie was contacted for comment.
