Photo credit: the Guardian
The inspectorate of British prisons has published a damning report on conditions at Harmondsworth, a 658-bed center.
The Guardian reports that the prisons watchdog described the conditions at the immigration removal center as “truly shocking.”
Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons said that, “overall, the outcomes at Harmondsworth were the worst HMIP has found in its immigration removal center inspections.”
Living areas were “dilapidated” and “decrepit” with some detainees so cold they sat in their cells in their coats. Fire doors were also at risk of not performing their functions in some units because they had non-fire-retardant surrounds.
The detainees were openly smoking cannabis. The ligature points had been left undisturbed for years despite being used repeatedly for suicide attempts.
The last inspection was in 2017. It was also critical but is now worse. Six areas of concern were highlighted for improvement still giving rise to concerns.
Welfare support had also “deteriorated significantly” since the last inspection.
Taylor said he was surprised to see detainees smoking cannabis. But a quarter of detainees said it was easy to get drugs inside the center.
Taylor said, “Nobody should be detained in an immigration removal center unless they are going to be removed quickly from the country, yet around 60% of detainees were released from the center, with only a third deported, which begs the question of why so much taxpayer money was being spent keeping then locked up in the first place.”
