Asylum detention centre condemned

Wednesday, 16 June 2004 12:00 AM

The Chief Inspector of Prisons has launched a scathing attack on conditions at Lindholme Removal Centre.

Anne Owers first inspected the centre in 2002, making a host of recommendations for improvement.

In this follow up inspection she found that the centre, which used to be an open prison, is "still locked into a prison service culture."

Inspectors found that, whereas areas used by the staff were clean, the communal areas where the detainees lived were "filthy and dilapidated" with "peeling paint and ingrained dirt."

Ms Owers told the BBC: "We would expect that detention centres are run according to detention centre rules; we'd also expect obviously that they're places where detainees are treated in decent conditions, that's a minimum standard.

"This was run still as if it was part of a prison. Perhaps the most extreme example of that was that detainees could be moved direct from the centre into the prison's segregation unit on the authority of the centre manager."

"The training hadn't been given to staff to recognise that these were detainees - not people charged or convicted with any criminal offence - and people with particular insecurities, so there was a huge training need for the staff."

Ms Owers though said that a few things had changed since the last inspection, noting that detainees are no longer routinely strip-searched and that a multi-faith room had been established.

The Refugee Council said the report is "very disturbing" and has called on the Government to take immediate action.

Director of Communications Tim Finch, said: "What this report identifies is a worrying lack of care and concern for this vulnerable group of detainees.

"Immigration detainees have not committed a crime. It is questionable in most circumstances whether they should be detained at all. However, if they have to be, the conditions should be decent and humane.

"It was always a mistake for Lindholme to be so closely located to a prison as it was highly likely that the whole centre would operate like a prison. Anne Owers questions whether Lindholme is an appropriate place to detain asylum seekers and we call on the Government to reassess its use of this detention centre."

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