Baby hold at Yarls Wood for 100 days says arch jail inspector

Richard Ford, Home Correspondent. & , : {}

A family with a baby were detained for 100 days in an immigration reception centre, according to a watchdog report published today.

The Chief Inspector of Prisons said young children were being held for too long at the Yarls Wood centre in Bedfordshire.

Dame Anne Owers said that on two occasions in the past year force had been used on children being removed from the centre in preparation for deportation.

She said there had been significant improvements at the centre, which is run by the private firm Serco. However, given that the fact of detention adversely affected childrens welfare, inspectors were concerned that their detention did not appear to be exceptional or necessary, given that half the families families detained were later released under temporary admission [to the UK], she added.

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In a six-month period 420 children were held at the centre but half of them were subsequently released back into the community. Some children and babies had been detained for considerable periods 68 over a month and one, a baby, for 100 days, even after social workers had indicated concerns about their and their familys welfare, her inspection report said.

Three detainees had been held for two years and more, and one Zimbabwean woman, held for almost two years, was awaiting an appeal court hearing.

A Nigerian woman held for 13 months had to wait a year to confirm her claim of having Nigerian nationality.

Dame Anne said that one reason for detainees being held for so long was the time it takes foreign embassies to issue travel documents to their citizens.

Yarls Wood holds about 300 immigrants, mostly failed asylum seekers and their families. Lawyers for four women held in the centre have launched a judicial review of conditions, alleging that they amount to a systematic disregard for human dignity.

Donna Covey, chief executive of the Refugee Council, called for an urgent rethink of government policy. She said: Detaining children is inhumane, unnecessary and a waste of money, and must not be allowed to continue.

While we welcome any improvements that have been made to conditions at Yarls Wood, the fact that half of all children detained are eventually released back into the community shows that detention is being inappropriately used.

Phil Woolas, the Immigration Minister, said that detaining some illegal immigrants was necessary because they refused to return home. He said: The sad fact is that some illegal immigrants refuse to comply with the decision of the independent courts and return home voluntarily.

The alternatives to centres like Yarls Wood include putting children into care, which would mean separating them for their parents and risking increased child trafficking and further illegal immigration.

Mr Woolas added: Detention is a vital tool in removing those deemed to have no right to remain in the country. Removal centres are a necessary part of enforcing the removal of those who refuse to depart voluntarily.