Brook House: Former detainee says zoo animals treated better

An immigration detainee, who was put in a choke hold by a custody officer, has told a public inquiry he felt animals at a zoo were better treated.

An ongoing inquiry into Brook House removal centre, near Gatwick Airport, is examining the mistreatment of detainees, as well as the attitudes and culture of staff.

It follows a series of investigations triggered by BBC Panorama in 2017.

In a statement the detainee said he believed the officer would kill him.

The choking incident in 2017 followed an attempted suicide by a detainee, given the code name D1527 at the inquiry.

He had a history of mental health problems and he had been trying to strangle himself in a cell.

While dealing with the incident one of the centre's custody officers, Yan Paschali, held him down by his neck.

"I thought I was going to die, that the man doing this to me was going to kill me," D1527 told the inquiry in a statement.

"I don't think the force was reasonable in that situation.

"You're in a crisis and you need someone to get you down from that crisis but the officers don't do that, they use force they bend you and squeeze you.

"They make you feel more pain. I felt like animals at zoo were treated better than I was."

Mr Paschali claimed in his statement that he and the detainee had shaken hands and smoked a cigarette together.

"This is a lie," D1527's statement said.

At the time of the incidents G4S ran the immigration centre, it was taken over by Serco in 2020.

The inquiry heard a series of statements from detained men with mental health conditions.

An Afghan man diagnosed with PTSD and depression tried to suffocate himself with a bag.

A Pakistani man said he still had nightmares about Brook House after being verbally and physically mistreated.

An Iranian Christian who left for Europe having suffered religious persecution said detention made his mental health much worse.

At one point he stopped eating and sewed his lips together, the inquiry heard.

A Moroccan man code-named D1538 said his time at Brook House had left him "not a full person any more".

He too said he was strangled by officers trying to restrain him.

Immigrants are held at Brook House while their cases are resolved. They are either released and given the right to remain, or flown out of the UK.

"It's like a forgotten prison with forgotten prisoners," D1538 said, with immigrants not knowing if or when they would be leaving.

Mr Paschali and other custody officers are expected to give evidence later this week.

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