Disabled children 'transported in cages'
Children should not be detained for long, the Inspectorate said
Friday, 22, Aug 2008 01:30
Disabled children are being wrongfully kept in immigration removal centres and transported in metal cages according to a damning report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons.
"An immigration removal centre can never be a suitable place for children and we were dismayed to find cases of disabled children being detained and some children spending large amounts of time incarcerated," the report said.
It goes on to condemn the length of time children are kept in the centres, the lack of educational and after-school facilities and the way some families were transported in caged vans.
The investigation relates to Yarl's Wood detention centre, where a 2005 report had specified similar problems, saying children were being "damaged" by their time there.
At the time, the inspector found an autistic five year old girl had not been fed properly for four days.
The UK Border Agency said it was committed to fair treatment and keeping children in detention for as little time as possible. But refugee rights groups treated those assurances with scorn.
"How much more evidence does the government need of the harm detaining children causes before it puts a stop to it once and for all?" asked Donna Covey, chief executive of the Refugee Council.
"The length of time people are being detained is scandalous.
"We all agree that it is unacceptable to detain people without charge for long periods – think of the controversy over detaining terror suspects for 42-days – and yet the people detained in immigration removal centres have not been accused of any crime."
The report also found there was inaccurate monitoring of how long children were being held for, inadequate education and after-school facilities, and some families had been transported to and from the centre in caged vans.
The report said: "Despite the efforts of centre staff, prolonged detention was having a detrimental effect on the welfare and behaviour of children, whose fear and distress was strongly reflected in our children's interviews."