Place of detention

Immigration Removal Centres (IRC)

There were 7 Immigration Removal Centres (IRC) during 2022 where immigration detention was implemented:^[1]

Source: Home Office

Short-Term Holding Facilities (STHF)

There are currently 4 residential Short-Term Holding Facilities (STHF), which can hold detainees for up to seven days, in addition to a small facility in Yarl’s Wood, where some people are detained for screening. Many airports or reporting centres have short-term holding facilities where people are held under detention powers for up to 24 hours. An inspection of the facilities receiving those arriving at the port of Dover, drew attention to the poor conditions in which new arrivals were held. ^[7]

Source: Home Office, Immigration system statistics data tables, Immigration detention detailed datasets, year ending December 2023, table Det_02, available at: https://tinyurl.com/bdhnwfkr.

Manston short term holding facility was opened in early 2022 and concerns were raised about overcrowded accommodation, inadequate sanitation, spread of infectious diseases, inadequate access to healthcare and safeguarding failures, as a result of which there has been litigation seeking a public inquiry into the use of the site.[8] The Council of Europe[9] and the Independent Monitoring Board raised similar concerns.[10] In November 2022 a man died from suspected diphtheria.[11] Following an inspection from January to February 2023, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration found that conditions had improved but concerns remained about the site’s ability to handle large numbers of arrivals.[12] He also reported that the capacity had been increased from 1,600 to 3,200 as at October 2022.

In 2023 the Manston processing centre was designated as new type of short term holding facility with more restrictive provisions than the other STHFs in areas including visitors, access to the internet and correspondence. It also provided for people to be held there for four days, which can be extended.[13] Concerns were raised by the House of Lords’ Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee[14] but the changes were passed without amendment.[15]

Prisons

During 2023, 3,449 individuals were detained under Immigration Act powers in prisons in England and Wales. ^[16] At the end of 2023 there were 106 people detained in prisons on this basis.^[17] It is not recorded whether any and if so how many of these people had at any point claimed asylum. People who have unsuccessfully claimed asylum are normally detained in immigration removal centres (IRC) in preparation for removal together with other third-country nationals who are there for immigration reasons. They are not detained in prisons purely in order to process an asylum claim or to remove them after they have been refused asylum.

If someone who is serving a prison sentence claims asylum, including if they do so in response to a decision to deport them, they may continue to be detained in prison while their asylum claim is processed. There is no data presently available on the extent of this. The practice of holding immigration detainees in prison is problematic, as detainees in prison experience much greater barriers to accessing legal advice and basic information about their rights, particularly in isolated local prisons. There is no regular advice surgery as there is in the IRC, and detention of a person held under immigration powers in a prison is not governed by the Detention Centre Rules and Orders. This means that the detainee may have legal advice on their asylum claim if they can contact an adviser outside the prison, and if necessary obtain legal aid to fund the advice, but there is no on-site access to asylum advice.

There is an agreement between the National Offender Management Service and the Home Office for immigration detainees up to a specified limit (presently 600) to be held in the prison estate. Detention policy specifies the criteria for detaining a person in a prison for immigration reasons after they have served their criminal sentence, but the policy allows for people to be detained in prison ‘before’ consideration is given to transferring them to an IRC – thus allowing continued detention in prison without an obligation promptly to transfer to an IRC. It also expressly provides that, if prison beds available for immigration detention are not filled by those in the risk categories, those beds should be filled by immigration detainees who do not meet the criteria for detention in prison.^[18]

A court case in 2019 established that it is not necessary for the safeguards for vulnerable immigration detainees in prisons to be equivalent to those in Immigration Removal Centres.^[19] This case was overturned (in respect of the safeguards) by the Court of Appeal.^[20]

^{[1] Home Office, Immigration system statistics data tables, Immigration detention detailed datasets, year ending December 2023, table Det_02, available at: https://tinyurl.com/bdhnwfkr.}

^{[2] HMIP, Report on an unannounced inspection of Brook House Immigration Removal Centre, September 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3WG706Z.}

^{[3] HMIP, Report on an unannounced inspection of Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre, June 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3MDxod9.}

^{[4] HMIP, Report on an unannounced inspection of Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre, December 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3N1Ieew.}

^{[5] HMIP, Report on an unannounced inspection of Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre, November 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/42cPXL1.}

^{[6] Independent Monitoring Board, Annual Report, June 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3OSygNI.}

^{[7] HMIP, Report on an unannounced inspection of Tug Haven, Kent Intake Unit and Frontier House, October 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/340UQPa.}

^{[8] Wilsons LLP, ‘High Court grants permission in Manston Article 3 inquiry judicial review’, December 2023, available at: https://tinyurl.com/bdzcnhnd.}

^{[9] Council of Europe, ‘Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) published report on its 2022 ad hoc visit to the United Kingdom’, 29 June 2023, available at: https://tinyurl.com/ykv9wt45.}

^{[10] Kent Coast Short Term Holding Facilities (STHF) 2022 annual report published, 23 October 2023, available at: https://tinyurl.com/4b93uuv3.}

^{[11] The Guardian, ‘Manston asylum centre death may have been caused by diphtheria’, 26 November 2022, available at: https://tinyurl.com/4v64m98a.}

^{[12] Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, ‘Inspection report published: An inspection of the initial processing of migrants arriving via small boats, including at Western Jet Foil and Manston (January – February 2023), 15 June 2023, available at: https://tinyurl.com/2s84rrau.}

^{[13] The Short-term Holding Facility (Amendment) Rules 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3I83dcr.}  

^{[14] Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, Twenty Fifth Report, 19 January 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3SOfmZ0.} 

^{[15] Hansard House of Lords, ‘Short-term Holding Facility (Amendment) Rules 2022 Volume 829’, 18 April 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/4bOpTvN.}  

^{[16] Home Office, Immigration system statistics data tables, Immigration detention detailed datasets, year ending December 2023, table Det_01, available at: https://tinyurl.com/bdhnwfkr.}

^{[17] Home Office, Immigration system statistics data tables, Immigration detention detailed datasets, year ending December 2023, table Det_02, available at: https://tinyurl.com/bdhnwfkr.}

^{[18]  Home Office, Enforcement Instructions and Guidance, Chapter 55.10.1.}

^{[19] MR (Pakistan) and Ors, EWHC 3567 (Admin), Case No: CO/2701/2018 & CO/4233/2018, 20 December 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/2UTJPbP.}

^{[20] MR (Pakistan) & Anor v Secretary of State for Justice & Orse [2021] EWCA Civ 541 [2021] EWCA Civ 541, 14 April 2021, available at: https://tinyurl.com/bddp8y9y.}