Almost 80% of people held in UK immigration detention centres in 2022 were released into the community rather than deported, according to a report.
The purpose of immigration detention is to prepare people for deportation from the UK, but the annual report by the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) 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 timeframe, but many are released after successful legal challenges or after being assessed as having health issues. According to a government summary of immigration data between 2015 and 2019, a much higher percentage of people in detention were deported than in 2022. From 2015-19, an average of 44% of people detained were deported – double the 22% of detainees deported in 2022.
The report also found that people were being locked up for longer periods compared with the previous year. One person was detained for more than three years, while another five were held for 180 days.
The cost of immigration detention is £112.85 a person a night, according to Home Office data.
The government has pledged to increase the UK’s capacity to hold people in immigration detention in order to prepare for the introduction of its controversial policy of removing people to Rwanda.
The report also raises concerns about the treatment of vulnerable detainees, including the seven put on a plane for Rwanda on 14 June last year before it was cancelled at the last minute after an intervention from the European court of human rights.
The management of the seven was found to be inadequate, “resulting in both unacceptable compromises to men’s safety and their right to timely and effective legal support”.
One of the seven had a panic attack before boarding the flight but was still deemed fit to fly. Two of the men had a care plan, which is made for people considered vulnerable, and three were subjected to the use of force. The IMB observed that the men taken to the plane for Rwanda were clearly distressed.
Concerns were also raised about the treatment of detainees after a power cut at Heathrow immigration removal centre, the largest such facility in Europe, in November last year.
After power was lost, 506 men were transferred to five different detention centres. Some were detained on coaches for 18 and a half hours and some were separated from vital prescription medication.
The system to protect vulnerable detainees, known as rule 34 and rule 35, was not working properly, the IMB report found.
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At Brook House and Tinsley House immigration removal centres, 60% and 64% respectively of those assessed as not appropriate for detention because of vulnerabilities were detained. In some cases, restraint was used to manage people at risk of self-harm or suicide.
The national chair of the IMB, Elisabeth Davies, said: “This report evidences another challenging year in immigration detention and highlights the need, now more than ever, for local IMBs to be the eyes and the ears of the general public in places of detention.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We take the welfare and safety of people in our care very seriously, and are committed to ensuring detention and removal are carried out with dignity and respect. We work to ensure individuals are detained for as short as time as possible while we pursue their removal from the UK back to their home country or a safe third country.
“Robust policies and procedures are in place to safeguard vulnerable people and we remain committed to further improving these where we can.”
