The report on the Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre was published by HM Inspector of Prisons yesterday and it was said that inspectors returning to this detention centre found the worst conditions that they have ever found in immigration detention.
This key findings of this report are important reading for anyone concerned with asylum and immigration in this country and indeed for the incoming government.
They found a level of chaos in the centre and that welfare support had deteriorated dramatically since the last visit. They also highlighted a fact that we have often highlighted – that almost two-thirds of people being detained in this centre will then go on to be released. This does beg the rather obvious question of why they were detained in the first place!
This is an important and timely report, and is another powerful piece of evidence of why we need to end the practice of immigration detention and develop more community based schemes.
