Printed before the change in government.

Read the Annual Report here

563 clients assisted – we provided practical and emotional support, with many visited in detention by our clinicians.  Our medico-legal reports (MLRs) documented evidence of torture and deterioration of health in detention. 

Targeting Albanians and tragic deaths – through the very high numbers of referrals in 2023, we saw the impact of the Home Office’s targeting of Albanian people and the celebration of deportation flights to Albania featured prominently in the Home Office’s relentless social media. One Albanian man is believed to have taken his own life in quasi detention on a barge, another Albanian man died in detention, and there were many more suicide attempts in detention. Detention is life threatening and we must act with urgency. 

‘Second opinion’ Judicial Review win : around 500 people a year spared languishing in detention for longer – the ‘second opinion’ MLR policy was found unlawful. It allowed the Home Office to disregard an MLR by an independent clinician while it obtained a report from a Home Office contracted doctor, who may lack the needed expertise and who may never actually meet the detained person. Home Office caseworkers, who are not clinically trained to evaluate rival reports, then reached decisions which have led to vulnerability being assessed at a lower level and people deteriorating in detention for longer.  The Home Office intended to do 10 ‘second opinion’ reports a week, so this win means about 500 people each year are spared languishing in detention for longer. The judge also found an unlawful failure to consult with Medical Justice on changes to the Adults at Risk policy, importantly confirming that we must always be consulted on this ‘flagship’ policy. 

Challenging the Illegal Migration Act (IMA) – rushed through parliament, this Act enables a ban on anyone entering the UK irregularly from claiming asylum, gives greater powers to detain them indefinitely and to deport them to a ‘safe third country’. It enables detention to become the default rather than the last resort, and the mass incarceration of men, women and children held in perpetual limbo.  Together with Garden Court Chambers, we organised a planning meeting with peers and over 40 representatives from 27 NGOs to discuss a strategy for amendments to the disastrous Bill.  It was uplifting to be part of a passionate coalition that acted swiftly and with such determination. 

APPG briefing meeting with the Chair of the Brook House Inquiry

Our evidence as a Core Participant to the Brook House Inquiry (BHI) was placed beyond question – We dared to hope for a report from BHI that properly linked the extent of the vile mistreatment of people in detention to the root causes, and to make recommendations that could make a difference. It did just that.  Our evidence was not questioned by the Home Office.  It was uncontested and extensively cited, greatly bolstering our position and that of others relying on our evidence in individual cases, strategic litigation, parliamentary debate, and media work. The BBC featured our headline research statistics about the ongoing abuse in IRCs a week ahead of BHI’s report, and it was followed by extensive media coverage, including the BBC Radio 4 The Today Programme, several interviews with Medical Justice staff and clients with BBC TV News, ITV News, and Channel 4, and coverage in the Guardian, the Independent and the Daily Mirror. As the secretariat of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Immigration Detention, we organised a briefing meeting with the BHI Chair, attended by staff from the then Shadow Immigration Minister’s office and the Joint Committee on Human Rights.  

‘“If he dies, he dies”: What has changed since the Brook House Inquiry?’ research report – our comprehensive analysis of clinical evidence from 66 clients detained since BHI ; 84% had evidence of a history of torture and/or trafficking, and 74% had self-harmed, suicidal thoughts and/or attempted suicide in detention. In March 2023 Frank Ospina is believed to have taken his own life in Colnbrook IRC, a death which then triggered a wave of suicide attempts.   

Embedding lived experience : “I can feel the development of Medical Justice since the days I was a client, we have come a long way am particularly proud this year of our achievement to further embed and promote lived experience within the organisation by developing a lived experience Traineeship role.” – Bridget Banda, Medical Justice Vice-Chair 

We can influence government to change – The ongoing harm caused by detention has been well known by the Home Office ; it is not accidental. Knowing this can feel overwhelming. Though we must not let that paralyse us as it underlines why the small but mighty Medical Justice is needed more than ever. We remain convinced that in time, we can persuade perhaps a new government to end immigration detention. But it won’t be possible without the evidence and case law we help build today. 

We are motivated by the courage of our clients. Each and every member of our community deserves thanks and recognition – every staff member, volunteer, donor, supporter and friend makes their vital contribution. Thank you for being resilient and continuing to witness and challenge the shameful impact of detention. Please don’t stop. 

Medical Justice Staff and Volunteers on the London Legal Walk, 2024

Medical Justice exposes Home Office dangerous Use of Force policy ignores Brook House Inquiry recommendations

The BBC has filmed inside aircraft fuselages in a massive hangar where the Home Office is training 800 staff on forcing people into deportation flights to Rwanda. The BBC filmed guards pretending to escort a passive person onto a plane. This is far from the reality of what took place on the (later aborted) 2022 flight to Rwanda; evidence shows how guards forced a suicidal detained person into a waist restraint belt and physically attached them to a seat. Medical Justice’s clients targeted and detained for that 2022 flight included a child, someone who attempted suicide twice, and someone who was likely to have a psychotic disorder and lacked mental capacity.

Watch the BBC TV News footage below

Credit: BBC Breakfast

Read BBC online: “Inside the secret government Rwanda training base”

On May 1st, just before the local elections, the Home Office paraded on social media footage of rounding up and detaining asylum seekers for deportation to Rwanda. Medical Justice has been assisting 36 of them; men and women from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan, and Eritrea.  Even though it’s been announced that there will be no flight to Rwanda before the general election – and likely ever – many remain detained. We demand their immediate release – to not do so, given the medical evidence of abuse in detention, means the harm the government is inflicting is basically premeditated.

This month the Home Office ‘consulted’ Medical Justice on its new Use of Force policy. The policy is as dangerous as ever. It ignores recommendations of the recent Brook House Inquiry into mistreatment of detained people in an immigration removal centre (IRC), finding wonton inhuman and degrading treatment; 19 instances in just one IRC in just 5 months.

The public inquiry found extensive, unnecessary, excessive Use of Force – findings included;

• A toxic culture and normalisation of the infliction of pain, suffering and humiliation of detained people
• Staff using force to provoke and punish detained people
• Unauthorised techniques, including one used by guards who unlawfully killed a detained man on a deportation flight
• Riot gear used routinely, including when detained people offered little threat of violence
• Force used against people who were physically and/or mentally unwell and against naked people being dragged out of their cell to be taken to a flight
• Many detained people who have deteriorated in detention wrongly treated as non-compliant and disruptive, taken to segregation – often by force – as a means to manage distress, self-harm and mental illness symptoms
• IRC healthcare staff often facilitated use of force by pre-authorising it and not intervening when it became dangerous
• Evidence of pervasive, derogatory and violent verbal abuse and racism revealed an underlying lack of any empathy, even when people were at their most distressed and vulnerable – even in life-threatening situations
• Mistreatment in IRCs is ongoing, evidenced in our report “If he dies, he dies”, a callous mantra amongst guards

The Home Office’s new Use of Force policy does not consider the impact of force on those with mental illness at all, ignoring a key recommendation of the Inquiry – established by the Home Secretary – to undertake a review on the use of force on the mentally ill. The policy allows for the use of pain-inducing techniques when these are contraindicated for those with mental illness and, in particular, those who lack mental capacity. Most clients targeted for Rwanda deportation in 2022 that Medical Justice assessed were torture survivors for whom use of force can be experienced as a terrifying re-enactment of past abuse.

The Inquiry found that wholly dysfunctional clinical safeguards were likely to have led to vulnerable detained people deteriorating in their mental and physical health, putting them at risk of mistreatment. Its recommendations included strengthening safeguards, yet the Home Office has just weakened its ‘Adults at Risk’ policy which will allow more vulnerable people to be held in detention, just as the dangerous Use of Force training is rolled out to 800 staff, and at a time when the Illegal Migration Action calls for a massive expansion of immigration detention.

Notes

1. The reality of the brutality of the 2022 Rwanda flight – Liberty Investigates reported extracts from official Use of Force forms; one man was bleeding and would not stop cutting himself until officers seized his arms, that he was treated by a nurse before being handed over to guards to take him by force to the plane. After boarding, another man whose wrists, arms, and head were restrained was screaming, hitting his head against the seat in front – after he started biting his tongue, officers applied a “mandibular angle” pain technique to make him release it. The Independent Monitoring Board reported that one man offering no physical resistance was put in a waist restraint belt (WRB). Two men in WRBs started to scream out their fear and distress, each trying to hurl his torso and head backwards and forwards. Each was seated with an escort on either side, his arms tightly held, his head controlled by an escort facing him. The legs of one had been ‘secured’.

2. “Who’s Paying The Price” report evidences vulnerability of 51 clients targeted for Rwanda in 2022 – Out of 17 people Medical Justice doctors conducted clinical assessments for, 14 had evidence of torture histories and 6 of trafficking. 15 had a diagnosis or symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. One required urgent investigations regarding a brain tumour. 11 people had suicidal thoughts, including one who attempted suicide twice.

Recording now available of the recent Medical Justice joint event with the British Medical Association (BMA) about findings of the Brook House Inquiry in relation to healthcare, safeguards and vulnerable people in immigration detention.

You can read the British Medical Journal’s coverage here

Speakers included;

• Mr M – formerly detained person
• Kate Eves – Chair of the Brook House Inquiry
• Dr Brodie Paterson – Honorary Senior Lecturer, Queen Mary’s University
• Dr Andrew Green – Deputy chair of the BMA Medical Ethics Committee
• Professor Cornelius Katona – Hon Medical and Research Director, Helen Bamber Foundation
• Dr Rachel Bingham – Clinical Advisor at Medical Justice
• Dr John Chisholm CBE – BMA International Committee Deputy Chair
• Stephanie Harrison KC – Joint Head of Garden Court Chambers

The event exposed how the dysfunctional safeguards, inadequate healthcare provisions and human rights abuses that were exposed by the Brook House Inquiry and highlighted how little has changed.

M, a client of Medical Justice who was detained for 52 days in 2023: 

M, explained the mistreatment, suicidality and use of force he experienced and witnessed whilst in UK immigration detention.

Speaking about his experience, M said:

“It’s hard to speak about this. I went to my room. I was having panic attacks, and at one moment I was almost feeling quite suicidal. 

I witnessed a lot of mistreatment during my time there. The guy who died by suicide … I remember his birthday, because I was the one who helped him write a letter to the Home Office about his situation. They were his words, but in English, because he didn’t know how to write in English. That’s never going to leave my mind. There was another guy who set himself on fire. He had been kicked out of the medical centre when he went to request help. 

I also witnessed the officers using an excessive amount of force with one of the guys, damaging his jaw and leaving a scar on his throat. He couldn’t eat or swallow for a week. I think he’s still in detention. 

It seemed like the doctors were against you. There were humans in there, but there was no humanity.” 

Kate Eves, the Chair of the Brook House Inquiry

Kate Eves outlined the 19 instances of credible evidence of mistreatment capable of amounting to a breach of Article 3 of the ECHR. She raised concerns around the approach to the use of force, the systemic failures of detention safeguards, a lack of understanding from healthcare staff of their responsibilities and duties, and the concerning involvement of healthcare in the use of force.

She urged that her findings and recommendations must be taken seriously, saying:

“it would be in my view, completely unacceptable not to respond in a meaningful way. One of the annexes in my report is essentially setting out all of the previous recommendations that have been made and its really palpable just how often we’re repeating the same things. We’re spending public money to look at the evidence, and saying the same things”.

Dr Brodie Paterson, Honorary Senior Lecturer, Queen Mary’s University

Speaking about mental health and the use of force, Dr Brodie Paterson emphasised that the starting point should be that restraint should not happen and should be prevented. He explored the importance of cultivating a positive culture, of trauma-informed care, of sufficiently robust governance for the use of force, and of adequate staffing and training.

He explained how the phenomena of staff perceiving the behaviour distressed detained people as wilful rather than a function of their mental distress.

Dr Paterson explained:

“Brook House had an inappropriate culture, an inappropriate physical environment, inappropriate training, inappropriate leadership and inappropriate oversight. If you were trying to create a service that would go wrong, then Brook House is a recipe for how to do that”.

If we fail to put the ethical infrastructure, the resources, the culture, the training in place, such services will fail. The lesson from Brook House is that unless we get it right: services will fail, and vulnerable people will get hurt”.

Dr Andrew Green (Deputy chair of the BMA Medical Ethics Committee) chaired a panel discussion of the healthcare and safeguarding in immigration detention

Professor Cornelius Katona MD FRCPsych (Hon Medical and Research Director, Helen Bamber Foundation and Hon Professor, Division of Psychiatry, UCL) discussed the mental health conditions and high levels of trauma amongst detained people.

Professor Katona spoke of why it is that detained people have high rates of mental health conditions:

“there is a diminished sense of safety, a diminished sense of freedom from harm and […] often painful reminders of traumatic past experiences of detention and sadly often of ill-treatment. There is an aggravated fear of the imminence of return” as well as a separation from support networks and disruption to their continuity of care.

He outlined that in immigration detention, the:

“primary purpose is administrative, and the length of detention is uncertain […] that is one of the key elements, the terrible uncertainty. In prison you count the days down, in detention, you count them up”.

Dr Rachel Bingham, Clinical Advisor at Medical Justice, showed how detention safeguards fail at every stage from a lack of pre-detention screening and systemic flaws in healthcare screening, and the Rule 34 and Rule 35 processes. Outlining Medical Justice’s recent audit of their clients. Dr Bingham drew comparisons with Kate Eves’ findings from 2017 to show that the catastrophic failures were because there was too often a disregard and lack of understanding of how to implement safeguards.

Dr Bingham emphasised that:

“the bottom line is not only that health is harmed in this situation or that suicide risk increases […] but [there are ongoing failures in the safeguarding processes designed] to prevent mistreatment and to prevent the kinds of abuses that happen when health is not managed.”

Dr John Chisholm CBE, BMA International Committee Deputy Chair, echoed that:

“detainees are vulnerable. They’ve often been the victims of torture, yet they’re detained in an environment that is detrimental to their health and wellbeing.”

He called the current indefinite detention system a “national disgrace” and said that it must be “phased out and abolished”.

Dr Chisholm urged that:

“we must continue to lobby, advocate, and campaign for change and to rid us, our country, of this performative cruelty.”

Stephanie Harrison described how healthcare staff “put the Home Office’s priorities of enforcement over the welfare of their patients” and “remained silent in the face of human rights abuses committed against individuals in the care of them as healthcare professionals”.

She called on IRC doctors to “stop being complicit in these forms of mistreatment [including safeguarding failures, inappropriate use of force and the misuse of segregation] by failing to report, to identify, and to call it out.” Instead, IRC healthcare must call out the culture of dehumanisation and racism “which is still entrenched within those institutions.”

“Places of detention are the hidden spaces in our society… They are places where communication is restricted, rights and freedoms are curtailed, where isolation from loved ones is a fact of life, and where the toll of detention can have an impact on people’s mental and physical wellbeing. For anyone who has been detained by the State, it is a profoundly life-altering experience.”

(Brook House Inquiry Report, Vol. 1, p.1)

On Tuesday 29 November 2023, the APPG on Immigration Detention – for which Medical Justice provides the secretariat – and APPG on Migration jointly held a briefing for Members on the Brook House Inquiry Report, with the Chair of the Inquiry, Ms Kate Eves.

The Brook House Inquiry is the first ever statutory inquiry on immigration detention in the UK. Set up to investigate abuse revealed by the BBC at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) in 2017, the Inquiry has also gathered evidence on the systemic failings – in terms of policies, practice, and culture – which allowed that abuse to occur.

The Chair of the Inquiry, Ms Kate Eves, published her final report in September 2023. Its carefully evidenced analysis shines a vital light into the “hidden space” of immigration detention.

Many of the problems identified within the report are continuing today across the UK’s detention system. It is crucial reading for anyone seeking to understand the ongoing failures in detention, their devasting effect on detained individuals, and what needs to change.

The joint APPG event was an opportunity for Members to learn more about the important issues raised in the Inquiry’s final report, and to assess its implications for the use and operation of immigration detention in the UK going forward. Members also discussed ways to raise awareness of the Report in Parliament, and to monitor government implementation of its recommendations.

Access a full copy of the meeting minutes here.

The Inquiry Report and APPG event have come at a particularly salient time, with the Illegal Migration Act 2023 granting the Home Secretary even greater powers to detain individuals, including children, whilst at the same time dramatically reducing the avenues available to people to challenge their detention. Alongside these legislative changes, the Home Office has also announced plans to significantly expand the detention estate – including increasing capacity at current sites and opening new ones. Based on these developments, it appears that the government going forward intends to detain greater numbers of people under immigration powers in the UK, for longer periods of time.

Additional links of interest:

• Letter from Ms Eves to the Home Secretary (19 October 2023), requesting details of the government’s response to the Inquiry’s recommendations and the response from the Home Secretary (4 January 2024).

• Further correspondence published by the Inquiry can be accessed here.

• Evidence from Home Office officials to the Home Affairs Committee regarding the Brook House Inquiry (29 November 2023), see Q173-Q182 + Q186 from APPG Chair, Alison Thewliss MP

• Lords debate on the Brook House Inquiry report (11 January 2024), tabled by APPG Member Lord German

An important cross-party debate in the House of Lords on the findings and recommendations of the Brook House Inquiry report took place last week. The Brook House Inquiry is the first public inquiry into the mistreatment of detained people in the UK. Medical Justice was appointed as a core participant to the Inquiry due to our extensive first-hand experience of the clinical safeguarding and healthcare failures in IRCs.

The Lords debate was organised by Liberal Democrat peer Lord German, a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Immigration Detention for which Medical Justice provides the secretariat.

Medical Justice worked with peers to highlight crucial issues. A full transcript is available here.  Some extracts from the debate can be found below.

Date for government response to the Inquiry report

“The inquiry exposed the dehumanising abuse of vulnerable people held in immigration detention. Unfortunately, the report’s author states that these issues remain in place today. We understand that a senior civil servant has been tasked to prepare the Government’s response, to be published “in due course”. I wonder whether “in due course” will have ended nine months from now. Perhaps the Minister could tell us.”

Lord German (Liberal Democrat)

Ongoing failure of safeguards for vulnerable people in detention

“Another of the inquiry’s findings was that vulnerable people in detention are not being afforded the appropriate protections that the safeguards recommended by Stephen Shaw are designed to provide, because of their dysfunctional operation.

The latest report of the independent monitoring boards and new clinical evidence from Medical Justice—a core participant in the inquiry—show that the safeguards are still failing, including not identifying people at risk of self-harm or suicide, with serious and sometimes tragic consequences for mental and physical health.  

What steps are the Government therefore taking, as a matter of urgency, to ensure a more consistent and robust application of the safeguards, as called for in the inquiry report?”

Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour)

Need for urgent action on use of force and segregation

“My Lords, the inquiry found that the inappropriate use of restraint and force on detained persons suffering from mental illness was common at Brook House, with healthcare staff unaware of their responsibilities to monitor the welfare of detained persons during use of restraint.

“Regardless of this information, the Illegal Migration Act allows for the use of force against even children across the detention estate. What steps will be taken to ensure that the use of force is continually monitored and recorded for all detainees, but particularly vulnerable adults and children, to ensure that what occurred at Brook House is never allowed to happen again?”

The Lord Bishop of Chelmsford

“My Lords, recommendation 19 of the Brook House report is on the attitude and behaviour of healthcare staff. The use of force on one person who had a serious heart condition lasted for about 18 minutes, was positively harmful and put him at further risk.

The recommendation is for immediate guidance for healthcare staff and mandatory training. Can the Minister tell us if that has already been brought into practice?”

Baroness Brinton (Liberal Democrat)

“My Lords, Kate Eves’s report included a number of recommendations requiring immediate and urgent implementation, because they related to serious issues such as the use of force and use of segregation.

Can the Minister tell the House what the Government have now done in response to those particular recommendations? If nothing has been done, can the Minister explain why not?”

Baroness Meacher (Crossbencher)

Recommendation for a 28 day time-limit

“The Minister said that the Government are carefully considering the Brook House inquiry report and will respond in due course. Why has the Minister therefore told us that they have already come to the conclusion that they will ignore what the Brook House inquiry said, namely that there should be a 28-day limit on immigration detention?” 

Lord Coaker (Labour)

On behalf of the government, Lord Sharpe of Epsom said a 28 day time-limit would “encourage and reward abuse”.

“The abuse found in the Brook House inquiry report was by G4S staff, with terrible abuse perpetrated against some of the most vulnerable people. We believe in custody time limits in this society. Even suspected terrorists can be held for no more than 14 days.”

Baroness Chakrabarti (Labour)

So, despite being asked several times in this debate, the government is not giving any commitment as to when it will respond to the Brook House Inquiry’s recommendations or what steps it is taking as a matter of urgency.  Lord Sharpe claimed that “a lot of the work had already been done, because there was a report commissioned in 2016 by Stephen Shaw” even though this was before the 2017 BBC Panorama undercover filming that led to the Inquiry, and despite the fact that the Inquiry found that many of the same failures from 2017 were still persisting.  He claimed that “we have strengthened our capacity to provide assurance and oversight of service provision” and said “I am confident that there is no way that such a situation would be allowed to happen again” but was unable to provide any information to explain the basis of his confidence.

Further Medical Justice work in Parliament to come

This is the first time Members have debated the report in Parliament since its publication. Medical Justice is very grateful to Lord German for ensuring the debate took place, and to the many peers that took part.

In the weeks and months ahead, we will continue to raise the Brook House Inquiry in Parliament and to work closely with MPs and Peers to ensure the government is held to account on its response to the Inquiry’s findings.

Government doubles down on experimental surveillance tech to track migrants

‘Constantly on Edge’, the latest report on GPS tagging in immigration bail, has found that the Home Office has increased its use by 56% in the last year and is now using newer, experimental mobile fingerprint scanners to monitor migrants on bail, without effective safeguards in place.

Read the report here

Users of the new ‘non-fitted’ scanner devices – supplied to the Ministry of Justice by Buddi under a £6 million contract – described the experience as a “type of torture” and spoke of feeling “constantly on edge”.

The research comes a year after Public Law Project, Bail for Immigration Detainees, and Medical Justice published ‘Every move you make’ which revealed the ‘psychological torture’ caused by fitted GPS tracking devices.

Interviewees told researchers that the newer, non-fitted devices vibrate up to 10 times a day at random intervals, sometimes into the evening. If users are unable to scan their finger within a window of ‘around a minute’, they are considered to be in breach of their electronic monitoring bail condition. That breach is then reviewed by the Home Office.

Researchers found that an automated system – the Electronic Monitoring Review Tool (EMRT) – is used to decide which device type will be issued and for how long the person will be required to use it. Authors Dr Jo Hynes and Mia Leslie of the Public Law Project say there is not enough transparency around how the EMRT works to be sure that the process is free of bias.

The report found that reviews of decisions to impose GPS devices – a key safeguard in the process – are not being conducted in sufficient volumes.  As of July 2023, 622 quarterly reviews were overdue.

Author of the report Dr Jo Hynes said:

“These devices are utterly dehumanising. It is hard to imagine the vigilance required to be ready to scan your finger immediately at random times throughout the day, or risk  breaching your bail conditions. Our interviews with migrants show how oppressive this system is and the impact that constant watchfulness has on their daily lives and wellbeing.

“This level of surveillance is not only harmful, it is unnecessary. The rate of absconding from immigration bail is tiny. In 2021 it was 2.7% and in the first six months of 2022 it was 1.3%. Millions are being spent on a system to address a problem that is not evidenced, and which causes psychological harm to people already made very vulnerable by Home Office policies.

“With a pilot study having recently concluded, it seems likely that Government may look at rolling these devices out to people who arrive by ‘irregular’ means i.e. by small boat. Given what we know about the potential harm these devices can cause, such a move would be highly inappropriate.

“The systems around this surveillance regime are opaque and dysfunctional. There is limited transparency around the automated decision support tool used to decide which device type will be issued and for how long the person will be on it. In addition, in breach of its own guidelines, the Home Office has a significant backlog of reviews to complete, leaving many at risk.”

Testimony from people interviewed for ‘Constantly on edge’

Interviewees taking part in the research who have been required to use the non-fitted devices report feeling “constantly on edge” and “like a lower type of human”. Another described it as “a type of torture”.

“If you have to go to the bathroom or to use the toilet, everywhere that thing’s with you.” – Interviewee

“I felt like someone is always following me, behind me. It’s like, imagine you’re walking outside and someone is like walking behind you. Following you, like wherever you go that person is following you. You will start to panic. You shouldn’t be harming the person you are watching. That is really very bad, like I said, being watched is horrible.” – Interviewee

‘Constantly on edge’ was written with the support of Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID) and Medical Justice.

Pierre Makhlouf, Legal Director of BID, said:

“GPS tagging is a punitive measure that is unnecessary and generates fear of authority. Its use is disproportionate, entailing 24-hour surveillance and control of individuals, while being supported by policies that interfere with an individual’s right to privacy. Its use needs to be ended now.”

Emma Ginn, Director of Medical Justice said:

“Having already established that electronic monitoring carries a high risk of causing deterioration in existing poor mental health, Medical Justice is saddened that the Government has significantly increased its use. Reports of severe detrimental effects on mental health, including to the point of suicidal ideation, therefore come as no surprise.

“Many of our clients have experienced immense suffering before they reached the UK and are retraumatised by immigration detention here. Being tagged on release can impede their recovery.  Though they may have left detention, intense surveillance and control continues, with the associated risk of harm.”

Key findings:

• In 2023, there has been a 56% increase in the number of people GPS tagged as a condition of immigration bail.
• Non-fitted tagging devices were introduced from November 2022. These fingerprint scanner devices request periodic biometric verification from the user (vibrating at random times) and collect the person’s location data at all times.
• Between 1 January 2023 and 2 November 2023, 3,335 people have been subjected to fitted devices and 543 people subjected to non-fitted devices as a part of an electronic monitoring bail condition.
• Reviews of decisions to impose a GPS tag (a key safeguard) are not being conducted in sufficient volumes. As of July 2023, 622 quarterly reviews were overdue.
• An automated system – Electronic Monitoring Review Tool (EMRT) – is used as part of the process for deciding which device type people will be subject to, if they should be moved from a fitted to a non-fitted device, or if their monitoring is to be discontinued.
• The extent of the EMRT’s role in decision-making is opaque, making it difficult to assess the extent of automation bias in the decision-making process.
• The length of advised time people spend on devices is vast, ranging from 3-24 months on a fitted device to 18 months to indefinitely on a non-fitted device
• Buddi Limited was given £6 million to make these devices. The contract comes to an end on 30 December 2023.

Equal Rights Beyond Borders and Diakonie Deutschland hosted a conference on immigration detention on the Greek island of Kos from 8-10 June 2023. The conference brought together nearly 100 legal practitioners, academics, NGO representatives, activists and a number of funders supporting work across Europe to discuss detention practices, policies and legal frameworks. There were a series of country focused and thematic presentations, as well as information sharing sessions.

Read the full report here

Idel Hanley, Policy, Research and Parliamentary Manager at Medical Justice, presented at the conference about the harmful impact of immigration detention. The presentation focused on the deterioration in detention, the limited healthcare provisions, and how deterioration occurs for both those with and without pre-existing vulnerabilities.

The conference was held in Kos as it sits at Europe’s external border and has detention facilities on the island: the Closed Controlled Access Center (CCAC) and the only remaining Pre-Removal Detention Center (PRDC) on the Greek islands. Both sites have prison-like conditions with strict curfews, restricted movement, surveillance and extremely limited access to healthcare and legal aid.

Throughout the conference, it was clear that many of the most hostile and harmful detention policies and practices are replicated across Europe. The parallels between detention practices included the lack of access to legal advice, de facto detention in sites that are not necessarily designated as detention, and a lack of adequate healthcare.

It was a timely conference with the increasing criminalisation and incarceration of asylum seekers, as detention is becoming the norm, rather than the exception, across the UK and Europe.

Of the 66 clients, 52 had evidence of a history of torture, 29 had evidence of a history of trafficking and 25 had evidence of a history of both torture and trafficking. Detention had already caused the mental state of 64 clients to deteriorate and had caused harm to all 66 clients.

63 had a diagnosis of at least one mental health condition and 49 people were recorded as having self-harmed, suicidal thoughts and/or attempted suicide. Uses of force included during transfer to segregation, removal from suicide netting and transfer to hospital appointments.

Medical Justice was appointed a Core Participant (CP) due to its extensive experience of the clinical safeguarding failures and understanding of the inadequate healthcare provision in IRCs.  One of our greatest concerns is the government’s plans to increase detention, despite the ongoing abuse, raises fears it is ignoring BHI findings.