Reception into Prison of Asylum Seekers

The use of detention against asylum seekers is, in the view of UNHCR, inherently undesirable.

The reception area of a prison for asylum seekers and irregular migrants arriving in custody, is the point at which they surrender their freedom, self-determination and individuality and separate themselves from everything and everyone that has defined them as individuals. Induction into the prison system is intimidating and dehumanising.

The Home Office is stepping up its war on failed asylum seekers and irregular migrants. Their latest tactic is to round them up and put them into prison, pending forced removal by charter plane. The attitude of prison staff to immigration detainees is often hostile and racist language is not uncommon.

Despite all the evidence to support the detrimental effect of holding detainees in a prison environment, the length of incarceration of detainees remains as bad as it ever was and the Immigration Service remain unmoved by the weight of evidence. Detainees are treated as remand prisoners but with one great difference. Remand prisoners are sent to prison by the courts and protected by the law as to how long they can be detained. Not so with immigration detainees, they can be detained indefinitely (Karamjit Singh Chahal spent over six years in prison).

It is one thing to be imprisoned and sentenced by due process of law, quite another to be imprisoned merely because you are without status. A decision to detain is made on the authority of an immigration officer, after usually no more than a cursory examination of the evidence.

What you experience is a case of cultural bereavement. A condition which can cause acute psychological problems.

Below are the locations of the Home Office detention estate. Figures are for the number of beds at each location: total 1,842 beds. In addition to the prisons listed below, the Prison Service make places available to the Immigration and Nationality Department for immigration detainees as and when required.

Detention Centres

Campsfield 184      Dover Harbour 20     Harmondsworth 91       QB, Heathrow 15

Longport 8     Manchester Airport 16      Tinsley House 150

Detention Prisons

*HMP Haslar 160     *HMP Rochester 198      *HMP Lindholme 110

Designated Criminal Prisons

* HMP Belmarsh 50      * HMP Wandsworth 50     * HMP Bullingdon 50     * HMP Highdown 50

* HMP Lincoln 50      * HMP Holme House 60        * HMP Liverpool 50      * HMP Cardiff 50

* HMP Winchester 50 * HMP Elmley 30

Reception centres

Oakington 400

Criminal Prisons

On average over 40 criminal prisons hold detainees.

Asylum seekers and immigration detainees held in these establishments and prisons are subject to prison rules (treated as remand prisoners).

A monthly break down of enforcement and detention statistics Jan 99 to February 2001 are available on NCADC's web site, www.ncadc.org.uk (left hand frame resources).