Migrant detainees treated worse than animals

The chief inspector of Prisons Nick Hardwick, has lambasted the privately run migration removal centre as behaving in an “ excessive and shocking manner” after its inspectrate made two unannounced visits to Geo-run Harmondsworth immigration removal centre.

In one case it found that an 84 year old man with dementia problems handcuffed to his bed. The man later died whilst being restrained. Hardwick lamented that it was difficult to see an ederly die in such undignifed and demeaning manner.

Hardwick went on to say that security proceedures for the 600 male detainees, lacked proportionality:

Segregation was being used excessively and was not in line with the detention centre rules. Disturbingly, a lack of intelligent individual risk assessment has meant that most detainees were handcuffed on escort.”

In another case a man in a wheel chair was handcuffed whilst visiting the hospital for no apparent reason.

Often the treatment and indeed the deaths of individuals in ‘custody’ barely gets reported, much less force full action to be taken. For years innocent children of migrant families waiting to be deported are also locked up like hardned criminals.

In many ways the often pernicious debate about immigration has surely led to a culture in detention centres and with immigration officers and police that at times views migrants partculalry Black ones as less than human. Last summer immigration officers tweeted with humilating pictures of suspected illigal migrants that ‘another one bites the dust’. Do these same officers think the same when due to their excessive action as with Jimmy Mubenga, a detainee dies?

Until the immigration debate changes, the culture and the institutions that deal with migrants will sadly remain shockingly unhuman.

At least Hardwick and his prison inspectrate team continue to challenge this truly appauling behaviour.

Simon Woolley