'Continuing failings' at Brook House after inquiry

A report has found "continuing failings" at a migrant removal centre, nearly a year after an inquiry found detainees were subjected to unnecessary pain and humiliation.

The Gatwick Independent Monitoring Board, which monitors Brook House, as well as Tinsley House, said safety at the detention centres had "degraded" during 2023.

Its annual report said Brook House felt "increasingly febrile" due to increased altercations between detainees and assaults on staff.

In response to the findings, published on Thursday, a Home Office spokesperson said it was "committed" to improving immigration detention facilities.

A public inquiry into Brook House, near Gatwick Airport, was triggered by a BBC Panorama investigation into the centre in 2017.

The report from the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), also covers Tinsley House, which is located near to Brook House and is also run by outsourcing firm Serco.

Concerns raised on Thursday included:

• Some men being detained despite the appropriateness of their detention seeming "highly questionable". This included four men who were assessed for sectioning under the Mental Health Act
• Poor release processes, where men were not removed, meaning they were subject to lengthy delays
• The use of force by staff doubling in 2023, with nearly all who were taken to hospital being handcuffed, which the IMB said could be "humiliating and distressing"
• Increased lock-in times which were "unfair and detrimental" to detainees' wellbeing
• An increase in the presence of substances, after the inquiry found prolific use of the so-called zombie drug Spice at Brook House

The report also notes that a prison crisis measure called 'Operation Safeguard' has made the centres "less safe".

Operation Safeguard allows foreign national offenders to be moved from prisons to immigration detention, but the IMB said this had resulted in an increasing proportion of men having a "higher risk profile".

Gatwick IMB vice-chair Clea Kahn said: "The Board is very concerned that some of the issues we continue to raise echo findings of the Brook House Inquiry."

She added that some of the issues highlighted by the inquiry "are not being taken seriously enough".

The report also revealed that in 2023, of the detainees who left Brook House, just 39% were removed or deported on flights, while 54% were released into the community.

At Tinsley House, of those who left, just 30% were removed or deported, while 66% were released into the community.

The board said these figures were "a matter of great concern", given that immigration detention was "intended to be used only for those for whom there is a reasonable expectation of removal".

The Home Office spokesperson said it would "carefully consider" the report's findings.

“We take the welfare and safety of people in our care very seriously and it is vital that detention and removals are carried out with dignity and respect," they added.

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