Self-Harm Rates in UK Immigration Centres Soar Following Report That Found ‘Worst Conditions Ever Seen’

The “extreme distress and harm” suffered by detainees at UK immigration detention centres has been laid bare, with official figures showing that self-harm rates have soared there by 67%.

Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FoI) show that from June 2023 to May 2024 there were 513 instances of self-harm at UK immigration detention centres, up from 308 the previous year.

In the year to March 2024, there was a 51% increase in the number of people held in immigration detention since the previous year – from 1,183 to 1,783 – meaning self-harm rates are rising faster than that of the detention estate population.

Idel Hanley, Head of Advocacy at Medical Justice, described the figures as “alarmingly high”, adding: “It is well known that detention increases the risk of self-harm and suicide, amongst an often already vulnerable population.” 

From January to May 2024 there were 285 instances of self-harm across the UK’s ten immigration detention centres, meaning self-harm incidents occurred almost twice a day during the five month period. 

The figures come as an HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) report on the Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre published in July found the site to have “the worst conditions” ever seen in immigration detention, with some areas of the centre described as “filthy” and “dilapidated”. It is the largest largest detention centre in Europe; holds only men and the security in several wings is comparable to a Category B (high security) prison, according to charity, Detention Action.

Inspectors found that “drug use had become increasingly prevalent” at the centre and that “population pressures in prisons had led to more ex-prisoners in the centre, often with serious offending histories”. Threats, abuse and theft were far more common at Harmondsworth than at other immigration detention centres, the report – entitled, ‘Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre: drugs, despair and decrepit conditions‘ – found.

Self-harm prevention was “poor” at the site, with almost half of those who responded to a survey conducted by the inspectorate saying they had felt suicidal during their detention. While there had been no suicides since the last inspection, the report stated there had been some serious attempts, including one during the inspection that “resulted in grave injuries to the detainee”. 

Inspectors found that “leaders had allowed a worryingly lax culture to develop” around suicide and self-harm prevention. In one instance, a man “who had been placed on constant watch because he was assessed to be at imminent risk of self-harm, was being watched by no one”.

According to the FoI disclosure, there were 46 self-harm incidents from January to May 2024 at Harmondsworth. Some 454 people were being held there at the time of the February inspection. 

Petruczenko continued: “For people who have already faced violence, torture and persecution in their home countries, being locked up in a detention centre once in the UK, and then being held there indefinitely with no idea as to what their future holds, is invariably a terrifying and triggering experience.”

In September 2023, the Brook House Inquiry published its report on the Brook House Immigration Removal Centre commissioned in response to a 2019 BBC Panorama documentary which uncovered abuse, bullying and violence by staff towards detainees. 

The Chair of the inquiry, Kate Eves, described a “culture of dehumanisation of detained people” at the centre, with custodial staff using force “unnecessarily, inappropriately and excessively”. The report pointed to 19 instances of credible breaches of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights – which prohibits torture, inhuman and degrading treatment – over a five-month period at the site. 

It also identified “a wholesale breakdown in the system of safeguards designed to protect vulnerable detained people” at Brook House, with Rule 35(1) and (2) reports inconsistently and inadequately completed. 

Rule 35 reports are a safeguarding mechanism that enables GPs in immigration detention centres to communicate a detainee’s risk of harm to the Home Office. Rule 35 (2) reports should be completed where there is a suspicion of suicidal intention.

Despite the inquiry recommending “a review of the implementation of Rule 35 across the immigration detention estate,” figures from this year indicate things have not improved. 

In the first quarter of 2024, only 14 rule 35(2) reports were completed, despite there being 157 self-harm incidents during that time. The July HMIP report on Harmondsworth found that “health care staff failed to make a Rule 35(2) report either when a detainee told them he was suicidal or when he subsequently attempted to ligature”.

“The detention safeguarding system routinely fails to identify and protect those at risk of self-harm and suicide,” said Hanley. “These issues are still ongoing today, across all immigration detention centres.”

In December 2023 last year, Medical Justice published a report evaluating changes that had been implemented since the Brook House Inquiry. It found there had been no improvement in the completion of Rule 35 reports, stating that “even after people attempted suicide, [Rule 35(2) reports] are rarely completed. Where reports are completed, the assessment is often inadequate and incomplete, for example missing information such as a suicide attempt.” 

There were 66 incidents of self-harm at Brook House from January to May 2024. At Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre, located next to Heathrow Airport, there were 81 incidents in the same period. In March 2024, there were 371 and 315 people held in Brook House and Colnbrook respectively. 

Government policy has also had an effect on suicide and self-harm rates in immigration detention. Medical Justice has identified a “high risk of suicide” among the cohort of 220 people that had been detained for removal to Rwanda, and in March 2024, a group of healthcare organisations including the Royal College of Nursing issued a joint statement calling on the Government to abandon the plan as is risked “exposing men, women, including pregnant women, and children to irreparable harm.” 

Although the scheme – which has cost taxpayers £700 million according to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper – has now been cancelled, the new Labour Government has refused to rule out the use of overseas deportation schemes and the future of 52,000 migrants earmarked for deportation after crossing the Channel in small boats remains unclear. 

In July 2024, the home secretary launched the new Border Security Command, which will work in collaboration with the National Crime Agency and intelligence agencies to dismantle the smuggling gangs that facilitate small boat crossings to the UK. 

The Government has also announced it will close the Bibby Stockholm barge in January 2025. Numerous health incidents have been reported on the barge since asylum seekers began to be housed there in August 2023, including an outbreak of legionella.  

Between August 2023 and April 2024, the local NHS service, NHS Dorset, recorded 405 so-called “health incidents” on the barge, one in five of which were related to mental health, Byline Times revealed in August amid calls for the “most vulnerable” detainees to be removed from the barge immediately”. In December 2023, a 27-year-old Albanian asylum seeker named Leonard Farruku died of a suspected suicide while being held there.

Last week, The Guardian reported that dozens of asylum seekers were staging a sit-down protest on the barge over delays in processing their asylum claims, overcrowding conditions and trouble accessing medical treatment. A man described the boat, currently housing about 400 asylum seekers, in Dorset as the “hell barge”, the newspaper reported.

The new Government has not proposed any clear reforms to immigration detention, despite the UK having the largest and most privatised immigration detention estate in Europe.

Outsourcing giant Mitie Care & Custody is the largest provider of immigration detention services in the UK and is responsible for running the Harmondsworth site. In its 2023 annual report, the company reported a 24% increase in revenue, from £136 million in 2022 to £169 million in 2023. 

The UK is also the only European country in which it is legally possible to detain people indefinitely. According to the Oxford Migration Observatory, in 2022, the cost of immigration detention was £107 per person per day.

“Indefinite detention must play no part in our immigration system, and we strongly advocate for community-based alternatives. These are proven to lead to much better outcomes for people who simply want to be safe and rebuild new lives here,” Petruczenko told Byline Times.

James Wilson, Director of Detention Action, explained that through the charities frontline work “we see daily that detention centres are not equipped to provide adequate mental health care to people in detention”.

He added: “We call on the Government to ensure that effective safeguards are in place to keep vulnerable individuals out of detention and support them within the community.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “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. There are established procedures in place in every Immigration Removal Centre to minimise self-harm, with formal risk assessments on initial detention and systems for raising concerns at any subsequent point.”