Owers slams facilities at immigrant holding centres

18 Jan 07
Conditions at holding centres for immigrants awaiting deportation were blasted this week by chief prisons inspector Anne Owers.

19 January 2007

Conditions at holding centres for immigrants awaiting deportation were blasted this week by chief prisons inspector Anne Owers.

A report evaluating short-term facilities at Reliance House and John Lennon Airport, both in Liverpool, and Sandford House in Solihull was published on January 16. All are managed by contractor Group 4 Securicor.

Owers criticised the absence of regular health care provision at the facilities, and the reliance on emergency services. She said: 'In one centre there had been two recorded self-harm incidents and two uses of force.

'As in other facilities, the lack of sufficient information and independent advice added to detainees' stress and anxiety; and many had spent days in a succession of short-term detention facilities.'

A need for staff training in the care and protection of children was also identified as well as more appropriate sanitary arrangements for a mixed population.

A parallel report found better conditions at the Colnbrook immigration removal centre near Heathrow Airport, with access to health care and welfare and race relations support on site. Owers acknowledged that this was because the facilities were managed by the removal centre.

But she said it was 'unacceptable' that detainees spent long periods locked in single rooms.

Home Office minister Liam Byrne said action was being taken to address the problems. But he added: 'It is important to remember that non-residential short-term holding facilities are intended to accommodate people for very brief periods of time.'

PFjan2007

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