Immigration detainees fail to receive medical examinations

There is still no clear protocol to ensure that immigration
detainees who are subject to failed removals are medically examined
at Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre, the chief inspector of
prisons warned today, writes Amy
Taylor.

Anne Owers said that the lack of a protocol was of
“particular concern” as she had previously recommended
for one to be created over two years beforehand.

Other problems flagged up by Owers, who carried out her
inspection in February, included poor reception procedures with
detainees sometimes left waiting for hours in and outside the
centre and inadequate support for mentally ill patients.

In a separate report published this week, Owers has also called
for greater management and oversight at three residential
short-term holding centres which house immigration detainees for up
to a week. 

The three centres, Harwich International Airport, Manchester
Airport and Port of Dover, hold people who have been refused entry
to the UK and are being immediately returned as well as those who
are due to be removed or detained.  The inspections took place
between August 2004 and January 2005.

Home Office minister Tony McNulty said the government recognised
improvements needed to be made in the detention facilities and that
he would respond to Owers reports in detail once he had studied
them in full.

Inspection reports from: www.homeoffice.gov.uk