Inspection report identifies concerns over ability of short-term holding facilities in Kent to cope with increase in asylum-seeker arrivals

On Tuesday, His Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons (HMI Prisons) released a report on a February 2023 visit to inspect short-term holding facilities in Kent which are primarily used to hold asylum seekers and migrants who arrive in the UK after crossing the Channel by small boat.

Image credit: UK GovernmentThe 43-page report is available here.

Inspectors visited Manston near Ramsgate and Western Jet Foil (WJF) and the Kent Intake Unit (KIU) in Dover.

While HMI Prisons found many improvements at the sites compared to earlier visits in November 2021 and July 2022, a number of serious concerns remained.

The site at Manston was a particular concern. Alongside Border Force, several contractors provide services on the site and there were insufficient governance arrangements to make sure that work was coordinated. Staff members, for example, could not say who was in charge.

Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, said Manston was able to function reasonably well during the February inspection because of the low number of people crossing the Channel, but inspectors did not find evidence that it would be able to cope with a rise in numbers during the summer. This could lead to vulnerable children and families remaining on the site for too long, the risk of infectious disease spreading and an increased possibility of disorder, Taylor added.

The lack of single leadership oversight and consistent coordination of agencies at Manston presented risks to the vulnerability and welfare of detainees.

Taylor noted: "[T]here was no real oversight of safeguarding processes, nor evidence that the most vulnerable were being consistently identified or provided with the right support. … Only 91 vulnerable adult warning forms had been opened by Mitie staff, just 0.5% of the total number of migrants passing through. While not all migrants who arrived at the centre were placed under the care of Mitie Care and Custody at busy times, we saw no evidence of any equivalent plans to support vulnerable detainees having been used by other agencies responsible for supervising them. This was compounded by a failure to make sufficient use of interpreting services, so those at risk could easily have been missed."

Among the concerns identified by HMI Prisons in the inspection, the length of detention at all sites had been too long, including for children and vulnerable adults, and access to legal advice was poor.

HMI Prisons said: "During the previous six months, 17,562 detainees had been held in Manston, including 1,257 children. These detainees were held for an average of 40 hours 43 minutes compared with 14 hours 56 minutes when we last inspected. There was limited hotel accommodation for family groups, and women and children were held for an average of 59 hours. It was clear that the lack of onward accommodation had led to unacceptably long periods of detention in October and November 2022. The average length of detention in Manston had increased from 16 hours 28 minutes in August to six days 18 hours in October 2022 with 6,498 detainees held for more than 24 hours and 1,756 detainees for more than four days. The longest detention period was more than 26 days. The average length of detention had reduced to 13 hours 16 minutes by January 2023."

On legal advice, HMI Prisons noted: "Access to legal representation was poor. There was no duty legal advice service at Manston or the KIU. Notices in the holding rooms at both sites provided contact details of solicitors and advice agencies but they were of little value. Some telephone numbers were incorrect and some representatives told us they did not offer advice on immigration law. None of the representatives listed on the notices provided free legal advice and representation."

The report summarises the full list of its key concerns as follows:

• The recorded length of detention in all facilities was too long. In October 2022 the average was more than six days, and in recent months many children had been held beyond the 24-hour limit.
• Governance of adult and child safeguarding was poor.
• There were no accurate data on the use of force or separation from the general population, or of incidents of violence and non-compliance. There was also no evidence of adequate governance or scrutiny of incidents.
• Professional interpretation was not always used consistently. This applied to Home Office processing and to staff interactions with detainees.
• The facilities at Manston were adequate for short stays of 24 hours or less but were not suitable for longer periods of detention. During busy periods detainees had often been held for considerably longer in marquees in unacceptable conditions.
• Care planning for vulnerable detainees, children and those with disabilities was poor and did not demonstrate individual planning, risk assessment or meaningful welfare checks.
• There was limited evidence of engagement by staff with detainees to monitor their welfare or resolve concerns.
• Processes for managing medical isolation at the Kent Intake Unit were inadequate and the facilities for medical isolation at Western Jet Foil were poor and not fit for purpose.
• There were weaknesses in the maintenance of medical confidentiality. Inappropriate levels of information about detainees' medical records were discussed among custody officers.
• Detainees had limited access to any form of communication with the outside world at all sites, including contacting their families after their journeys.
• Detainees were not made aware before leaving of where they were going and what would happen next.

In response to the report, BBC News quoted a Home Office statement as welcoming the report's acknowledgement of the improvements made at the sites.

The Home Office added: "We have already taken action to address some of the recommendations and look forward to working with the Inspectorate on continuing this process. Our staff are working relentlessly to reduce detention times, improve facilities and provide specialist medical care for unprecedented numbers of migrants arriving in the UK illegally."