THERE are many things that are admirable about the UK justice
system. Not the least of these is the monitoring regime organised
by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons. Immigration Removal
Centres, like ordinary prisons, are inspected on average every
three to four years, usually by a team that arrives unannounced and
cannot be refused access. Their inspection reports are publicly
available (with a little digging) on the Ministry of Justice
website, and reading them provides a cool assessment of the lives
of detainees and the official concerns about them. Each centre's
report ends with a list of wide-ranging recommendations, and the
authorities are expected to act upon them. Some of these are
concerned with minor irritants - repair of gym equipment, improved
lighting in the library, curtains that close properly, and so
on.
More alarming are the passages that indicate the potential
mistreatment of detainees. The dispassionate language used does
nothing to diminish the concern generated by what is being
described. Here, for example, is a passage from the most recent
inspection of a removal centre, Tinsley House, near Gatwick
Airport: "Our survey responses about safety were not as good as at
the last inspection. Thirty-seven per cent of detainees now told us
they felt unsafe, compared with 17 per cent at our previous
inspection, and the figure was now similar to comparable
establishments." In other words, more than one third of detainees
felt unsafe, and this is the industry norm. One phrase that comes
to the fore is "repeated recommendation". This indicates items that
were highlighted in a previous report but which still require
action. In Tinsley House this applies to such recommendations as
the provision of a suitable care suite for detainees at risk of
self-harm or suicide; and that detainees should not be subject to
"exhausting overnight transfers between centres". These are not
small matters.
As the Master of the Temple reminds us on this page, next Monday
sees a celebration to mark the anniversary of the signing of the
Magna Carta. It included the phrase: "To no one will we sell, to no
one will we deny or delay right or justice." As our report from
Yarl's Wood suggests, and as the inspection of Tinsley House
attests, there are people in Britain for whom right and justice are
being denied and delayed. In the language of HM inspectors, "We
were not persuaded that necessity to detain was always adequately
considered for individuals or families." The new Government is
under intense political pressure to stem the flow of immigrants
into the UK, but this does not excuse the inhuman treatment of
those who manage to effect a passage, regardless of whether they
have a right to stay. Societies, from biblical times to the
present, are judged by how they treat strangers in their midst. The
UK continues to be wanting, to the shame of those who run the
system, but equally to those who turn a blind eye.