Almost 80% of people held in UK immigration detention centres in 2022 were released into the community rather than deported, a report has found.
The purpose of immigration detention is to prepare people for removal from the UK, but the Independent Monitoring Board’s (IMB) annual report on the immigration detention estate found that the vast majority were released.
The Home Office is only supposed to detain people if there is a realistic prospect of removing them within a reasonable time, but many are released after successful legal challenges or after being assessed as having health problems. According to a government summary of immigration data between 2015 and 2019, a much higher proportion of people in detention were deported than in 2022. Between 2015 and 2019, an average of 44 per cent of people in detention were deported – double the 22 per cent of detainees deported in 2022.
The report also found that people were being detained for longer periods than in the previous year. One person was detained for more than three years, while five others were detained for 180 days.
The cost of immigration detention is £112.85 per person per night, according to Home Office figures.
The government has pledged to increase the UK’s capacity to hold people in immigration detention in preparation for the introduction of its controversial policy of deporting people to Rwanda.
The report also raises concerns about the treatment of vulnerable detainees, including the seven who were put on a plane to Rwanda on 14 June last year before it was cancelled at the last minute following an intervention by the European Court of Human Rights.
The management of the seven was found to be inadequate, ‘resulting in both unacceptable compromises of the men’s safety and their right to timely and effective legal assistance’.
One of the seven had a panic attack before boarding the flight, but was still deemed fit to fly. Two of the men were on a care plan, which is designed for people who are considered vulnerable, and three had been subjected to the use of force. The IMB observed that the men who were put on the plane to Rwanda were clearly distressed.
Concerns were also raised about the treatment of detainees following a power cut at Heathrow Immigration Removal Centre, the largest such facility in Europe, in November last year.
After the power cut, 506 men were moved to five different detention centres. Some were detained on buses for 18 and a half hours and some were deprived of vital prescription medication.
The system for protecting vulnerable prisoners, known as Rule 34 and Rule 35, was not working properly, the IMB report found.
At Brook House and Tinsley House immigration removal centres, 60 per cent and 64 per cent respectively of those assessed as not suitable for detention because of their vulnerability were detained. In some cases, restraint was used to manage people at risk of self-harm or suicide.
IMB National Chair, Elisabeth Davies, said: “This report is evidence of another challenging year in immigration detention and highlights the need, now more than ever, for local IMBs to be the eyes and ears of the public in places of detention.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “We take the welfare and safety of the people in our care very seriously and are committed to ensuring that detention and removal are carried out with dignity and respect. We work to ensure that people are detained for the shortest time possible while we seek to remove them from the UK to their home country or a safe third country.
“Robust policies and procedures are in place to protect vulnerable people, and we remain committed to improving these further where we can.”
