Torture Victims Unlawfully Detained in UK Immigration Center, Inspectors Report

A report on an unannounced inspection of Heathrow Immigration Removal Center's (IRC) site in Harmondsworth by the UK's prison watchdog reveals "considerable failings" in terms of its safety and respect record for detainees.

Prison inspectors found areas where bedbugs were "endemic" and infestations of mice and "drug us was an increasing problem", and many areas "were dirty and bedrooms, showers and toilets were poorly ventilated," according to the report published Tuesday 13 March. The UK's Home Office is also found to be unlawfully detaining torture survivors despite accepting evidence of their vulnerability.

​A previous inspection in 2015 highlighted concerns over the safety of detainees, however improvements made in 2017 were "not of the scale or speed that were required," Peter Clarke HM Chief Inspector of Prisons said. "The continuing lack of time limit on detention mean that some men had been held for excessively long periods: 23 men had been detained for over a year and one man had been held for over four and a half years, which was unacceptable," the chief inspector of prisons Mr. Clarke said. The report also cited concerns detainees were still being "routinely handcuffed when attending outside appointments without evidence of risk."

READ MORE: UK Asylum System Ruled 'Unlawful' But Remains in Place

​"In 2013 we identified the disgraceful treatment of an ill and elderly man who was kept in handcuffs as he died in hospital…it is with concern, therefore, that at this inspection we found detainees once again being routinely handcuffed when attending outside appointments without evidence of risk," Mr. Clarke said. 

Detained Voices is a blog written by immigrants held in detention centers in Britain, The Diary of a Wimpy Illegal, is a written account of one detainees experience at Heathrow's IRC. He reports being handcuffed and held outside in bad weather after a bus transporting detainees to an airport blew up, along with it, all the immigrant's official documents and personal possessions. 

"The escape from the burning bus was probably the most traumatizing event of our life mentally, but made to stand out in open rain on the roadside with handcuffs on, being treated like serial killers, well I must say I have never been more embarrassed than this thus in my entire life," he writes.

"…Here, immigration detainees who have never committed a crime in their life are mixed with the hard line and habitual criminals and the result is a perfect match up."

The report published into the recent inspection of Heathrow IRC draws on interviews with detainees who say drugs, especially 'Spice' are easy to obtain and "staff did not do enough to address the problem."

READ MORE: Damning Report: 'Urgent Rethink' of UK Immigration Detention System Needed

"All health care staff said that Spice was a major problem in the center…health staff reported that detainees told them Spice relieved the boredom and made life more bearable given the stress they experienced in detention," the report says. Other drugs, including cannabis and heroin and prescription medication were also available.

In his personal account of life inside Harmonsdworth detention center, the author of Diary of a Wimpy Illegal writes: "The drugs here are as common as a bottle of coke. They are properly marketed and you can get them without any fuss. You will see somebody getting high and dropping unconscious on the floor every single day. There is a drug related incident every single day where people overuse them and suffer its serious consequences. 

"I have seen so many nice and innocent people coming to this detention centre clean and end up being a drug addict of a proportion who might do anything just for a joint of spice," the blog published by Detained Voices reveals. 

READ MORE: Detainees in UK Immigration Removal Centres Tweet Their Hunger Strike Live

The unannounced inspection took place between 2 — 20th October 2017. A UK Home Office spokesperson said: "When people are detained, it is for the minimum time possible, and detention is reviewed on a regular basis. The detainee's welfare remains of the utmost importance throughout."