Asylum seekers forced to sleep in corridors of detention centre

4:25pm Thursday 28th August 2008

Women and children held in a detention centre for failed asylum-seekers are sleeping in corridors, inspectors have found.

Detainees at Tinsley House Immigration Removal Centre at Gatwick face "unacceptable conditions", according to a report by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons.

Lack of legal advice at Tinsley House, poor facilities for children and an intimidating atmosphere for single women were all criticised The UK Border Agency has been recommended to turn the centre into a specific site for women and children when a large new centre being built at Gatwick is completed next year.

Failed asylum-seekers are held in the centres before being returned to their home countries.

At the time of the inspection in March, Tinsley House was home to 16 men from Afghanistan, 11 from China, nine from Nigeria and eight from Turkey.

In total there were 129 detainees in the 152-capacity centre, 116 of them men, six women and seven children, from 37 countries.

On average detainees spend 40 days at Tinsley House ñ twice the length of time they spent there two years ago.

Some spend much longer in detention, being transferred from centre to centre. The inspectors cited one man who had been in detention for 13 months, but had no solicitor and had been given incorrect paperwork.

The inspectors said a lack of legal advice for detainees was a “major concern”.

When they visited Tinsley House in March, they found there was no proper assessment to plan for the care of children held for longer than seven days.

Accommodation for single women was “cramped and claustrophobic”.

The report said: “There were now very few single women and they appeared marginalised and almost forgotten.

“They had to share various facilities in a mainly male establishment, which could be embarrassing and intimidating. This urgently needed to be addressed.”

Poor ventilation was also criticised. The inspectors wrote: “There was an ongoing problem of poor ventilation, and windows could not be opened.

“Air conditioning had been installed in some areas, but not for the benefit of detainees, who experienced particularly oppressive conditions in the summer . . . We were told that the situation was so bad during the summer that detainees were permitted to sleep in the corridor because the rooms became so stuffy.”

The report cited “poor practice” in the restraint of detainees who had harmed themselves.

The inspectors said a paramedic made no effort to examine a detainee who claimed he was hurt after force had been used to handcuff him.

He did not want to be removed from the country without his belongings, which had been left behind when he was transferred between centres.

The inspectors also gave an insight into the experiences of detainees in the immigration system generally.

Detainees were unexpectedly transferred between centres, with a third facing a journey of more than four hours. One detainee had spent 12 and a half hours on the road after being transferred from a Scottish centre.

A couple with two children were split up and taken in separate vans to be removed from the country.

More than a third of detainees at Tinsley House said they felt unsafe, which compared favourably with the national average of 47%.

Despite the criticisms, the centre was judged overall to be “largely safe and respectful”.

The Gatwick Detainee Welfare Group, which visits detainees at Tinsley House, welcomed the findings.

Group co-ordinator Nick Eadie said: “We would echo the points about the conditions for women and children.

“We often speak to single women who may be the only woman in the whole place, which can be quite intimidating.

“What facilities there are for children are fairly cramped. There is not much space and not many meaningful activities.”

Anne Owers, Chief Inspector of Prisons, said: “This situation cannot be allowed to continue and, with the opening of the neighbouring Brook House immigration removal centre, Tinsley House should be refurbished and redesigned to become a dedicated facility for families and single women who need, exceptionally, to be detained.”

A spokeswoman for the UK Border Agency said conditions for children had improved.

She said: “We are determined to remove more people this year in a humane and compassionate way so we welcome HMCIP’s judgement that Tinsley House remains a safe and respectful immigration removal centre.”

“The safety and security of female and male detainees at Tinsley House is taken very seriously by the UKBA.

“UKBA will be considering the contents of this report and HMCIP’s recommendations very carefully. We will draw up an action plan responding to each of the recommendations.”

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