REVEALED: Yarl’s Wood Immigration Detainees Suffered in ‘Unacceptable’ Conditions During Record Heatwave

REVEALED:Yarl’s Wood Immigration Detainees Suffered in ‘Unacceptable’ Conditions During Record Heatwave

As the Home Office faces mounting criticism over its treatment of asylum seekers at Manston processing centre, a new investigation by Sascha Lavin for the Byline Intelligence Team paints a troubling picture of conditions at another notorious immigration removal detention centre this July

Hundreds of detainees at Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre were held in rooms with no way of cooling down during the July heatwave, the Byline Intelligence Team can exclusively reveal. 

While temperatures soared to record-breaking heights, as many as 249 migrant people at Yarl’s Wood were forced to spend nine hours a day in rooms without air conditioning, fans or windows that could be opened, according to data obtained through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

SNP MP Alison Thewliss, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Immigration Detention, said the “frightening figures” were “deeply concerning”.  

While the time period may have been overnight, it is concerning that people were held in rooms that had no way of being cooled down, including by opening a window overnight to circulate air throughout the room. 

A further four people were held in similar unsuitable conditions for 12 hours a day between 16 and 19 July at Colnbrook immigration removal centre, near Heathrow airport.

“Basic necessities such as open windows and air conditioning should be guaranteed during heatwaves,” Thewliss told Byline Times. “It is unacceptable that these were missing.

“Many of those living in these detention centres have fled conflict and have suffered unimaginable trauma – they should be treated with dignity and respect and allowed to rebuild their lives.”

The figures come as the Government continues to face criticism over its treatment of migrant people. Home Secretary Suella Braverman has come under pressure after reports that she ignored legal advice not to leave people at Manston immigration processing centre for long periods. 

The situation at Manston has been labelled a “breach of humane conditions” after 4,000 people were held at the site, with reports of them contracting serious diseases, including diptheria and MRSA. The facility is designed to hold up to 1,600 people for no more than 24 hours. 

But as the Home Office attempts to reduce acute overcrowding at Manston, yet more mishandling has ensued – officials left asylum seekers from the immigration centre in central London without accommodation or warm clothing. 

Concerns have also been raised that pregnant women are being detained unlawfully at Manston. Pregnant women being detained for immigration purposes can be held for a maximum of 72 hours – but a message in a bottle thrown over the fence at Manston stated that pregnant women were receiving no help and that 50 families had been detained for more than 30 days. 

Temperatures in Bedfordshire, where Yarl’s Wood is located, climbed as high as 39.6C in July and the Met Office issued the UK’s first red extreme heat warning. People were urged not to travel and experts warned that the heatwave posed a real danger, particularly to vulnerable people. Indeed, the daily number of deaths in England was 7% higher during the heatwave than in the rest of the month.

In its FOI response, the Home Office said that “although windows do not open, they do all have a vent which can be opened to allow air flow” in detainees’ rooms at Yarl’s Wood. 

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More than 40,000 people have backed a petition called ‘It’s too hot inside’, demanding that the Government make living conditions in prisons and immigration detention more bearable during heatwaves, by providing people with fans, iced water and mobile air conditioning. 

Since it opened in 2001, the Bedfordshire facility has been used as an immigration removal centre for women, but it was “repurposed” in summer 2020 as a short-term holding facility for migrant people who have crossed the Channel. However, a recent Home Office report said that it will continue to hold female immigration detainees at Yarl’s Wood. 

Yarl’s Wood has been dogged by controversies including hunger strikes by detainees and allegations of abuse. A 2015 Channel 4 News undercover report showed staff referring to detainees as “animals”, “beasties” and “bitches”. 

The same year, complaints about sexual abuse and mistreatment at the immigration removal centre came to light, including reports that a guard allegedly repeatedly propositioned a pregnant woman for sex. 

Yarl’s Wood has been run by outsourcing giant Serco since 2007. Its director Rupert Soames is the brother of former Conservative MP Nicholas Soames and the grandson of Winston Churchill.

The Home Office was contacted for comment.

This article was produced by the Byline Intelligence Team – a collaborative investigative project formed by Byline Times with The Citizens. If you would like to find out more about the Intelligence Team and how to fund its work, click on the button below.

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