The UK’s Brook House Inquiry published a report Tuesday detailing an investigation into the mistreatment of individuals detained at the Brook House Immigration Removal Centre in the UK. The inquiry, chaired by Kate Eves, was set up to investigate incidents at the centre that took place between April 1, 2017, and August 21, 2017. The report reveals 19 instances over five months amounting to mistreatment contrary to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, including forcibly moving detainees while naked and use of unnecessary pain.
The inquiry was initially opened after a 2017 BBC documentary, ‘Undercover: Britain’s Immigration Secrets,’ covertly filmed the immigration centre and revealed abuse of detainees at the hands of staff. The report relays some examples in detail, including an incident that involved “the application of pressure to a detained man’s neck while he was in extreme distress” and “dangerous restraint techniques” along with the use of inappropriate and excessive force. The indefinite nature of immigration detention creates a “detrimental effect on wellbeing,” since there is no maximum period for which a person can be detained, according to the report. The inquiry also reveals that there is a “failure to follow the safeguarding rules and procedures to protect the vulnerable.”
In the report, Eves makes 33 recommendations which she says “need to be implemented to ensure that other detained people do not suffer in the same way as those at Brook House did.” She called for a limit on the amount time persons can be detained, recommending that people should only be detained for a maximum of 28 days. Eves additionally noted that practical steps must be taken to improve the “oversight of contracts by the Home Office, environment, people’s safety, and their experience of detention.” In a launch statement accompanying the report, Eves highlighted that there has been a notable failure to act on previous recommendations, made obvious through the acts observed throughout the investigation and detailed within the report. She concluded that “the Home Office should publish their responses” to her recommendations within six months.
The treatment of migrants in the UK has come under scrutiny in recent months following the passage of the Illegal Migration Act, which prohibits anyone who enters the country without documentation from claiming asylum, and the controversy surrounding the housing of migrants on the Bibby Stockholm barge, where legionella bacteria was discovered in the water supply last month.
