By Harmit Athwal, © Institute of Race Relations,28 January 2003, 5:00pm

Group 4 Falck, Britain's biggest immigration detention company, today called for the right to report 'disruptive' detainees to the immigration authorities so that asylum seekers' behaviour in detention be taken into account when decisions on refugee status are made.

At the House of Commons, members of the Home Affairs Committee on Removals questioned representatives from private companies involved in the immigration removals process.

The companies - Wackenhut, Group 4 Falck, Global Solutions Ltd, Premier Custodial Group and UK Detention Services - are all currently involved in the detention of refugees. Loss Prevention International is the sole contractor for deporting detainees from the UK and Wackenhut transports asylum seekers arriving in the South East around the UK under the dispersal scheme run by the National Asylum Support Service.

David Banks from Group 4 Falck, now the largest private prison 'service provider' in the UK, told the committee that, 'detainees who act in a violent or disruptive manner should have their behaviour taken into account by the immigration authorities and Immigration Adjudicator. The current inability of an adjudicator to take such behaviour into account poses a significant danger to the wider community, especially if leave to remain is granted to individuals who pose a criminal threat.' But Frances Webber, a leading immigration barrister, told IRR News: 'It appears that Group 4 Falck is jumping on the anti-asylum bandwagon and trying to create another asylum scare. Its suggestion that criminal or violent behaviour in detention cannot be taken into account by immigration authorities is mischievous and wrong. The criminal law provides adequate safeguards against violence, and there is power to deport those convicted of offences. But allegations of violence - by Group 4 or anyone else - should have to be tested in the ordinary criminal courts; we know from past experience that their evidence is not always reliable.'

On the issue of deportation, Tom Davies of Loss Prevention International Ltd, commented that a charter flight was the most 'cost effective' way of removing people and it was 'more humane to remove on a charter flight because it is out of the public eye and therefore the temperature of the thing is much lower'.

When the companies were questioned about attempted suicides and 'successful' suicides of asylum seekers in their care, they gave figures for attempted suicides, but all insisted that no suicide attempt had been successful. However, the Institute of Race Relations' records show otherwise. In fact, there have been two suicides of detained asylum seekers at Harmondsworth detention centre, run by Group 4 at the time.

* Lithuanian asylum seeker Robertas Grabys, 49, was found hanged in Harmondsworth detention centre on 24 January 2000. The Home Office had attempted to deport Robertas two days prior to his death.

* Kimpua Nsimba was found hanged on 16 June 1990 at Harmondsworth Detention Centre. He arrived in the UK ten days earlier and had been detained at Heathrow. The day before his death when he did not come down for food, Group 4 searched the building. When he was not found, it was reported that he had absconded. A cleaner found his body the next day. Group 4 could not explain how he was missed the day before.

© Institute of Race Relations 2003

Source for this page:    © Institute of Race Relations 2003

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