The decision to detain the most vulnerable in society, including victims of torture, indefinitely in detention centres is “shameful” and must end, the Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster, Paul McAleenan, has said.
His comments follow the release of a report from the prisons watchdog, HM Inspectorate of Prisons into Harmondsworth immigration removal centre near Heathrow, which called on the government to limit the maximum time individuals can be detained in what it said were “prison-like” conditions.
Among the report’s most damning findings were that some individuals were being held for "excessively long periods", in one case over four-and-a-half years, and that some security measures were employed which "would have been disproportionate in a prison and were not acceptable in an immigration removal centre." The chief inspector of prisons, Peter Clarke said that some of 537 detainees at Harmondsworth had been in detention for too long, including 23 who had been held for more than a year.
Bishop McAleenan called on the government on end what he said was an “inhumane system”. "It is shameful that the UK government is effectively imprisoning victims of torture, people with serious mental health conditions, and potentially survivors of human trafficking. This treatment of the most vulnerable people in our society is a clear violation of their God-given human dignity and must be addressed," he said.
The Jesuit Refugee Service, which provides pastoral support to the men held at Harmondsworth, described indefinite detention as "devastating" and "life-destroying", and noting that the report's findings were "deeply troubling, but sadly not surprising”. The services provided by groups like the JRS were one of the few areas praised in the report.
Last month Catholic bishops joined other faith leaders in criticising indefinite immigration detention in the UK. They spoke as the human rights organisation Liberty launched a major campaign for a detention time limit of 28 days to be included in any new immigration laws after the UK leaves the European Union.
The Home Office said that people are being held for the shortest time possible as part of effective immigration control, adding that the detainee’s welfare remains of the utmost importance throughout the process.
PICTURE: General view of a new wing of Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre, in West Drayton ©PA
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