Covering 1st February 2019 to 31st January 2020….

 

 

Medical Justice handled referrals from 833 immigration detainees, including victims of torture, trafficking and political persecution.  57 of our dedicated team of volunteer clinicians visited immigration detainees in immigration removal centres and prisons across the UK.

Just one of those cases involved a patient with chronic lung disease, with a background of an intensive care admission following a previous flight, and a letter from a respiratory consultant stating he was not fit to fly, was transferred to the airport in an ambulance with the intention of removal; a letter from Medical Justice was able to halt the removal at the last minute on medical grounds.

Medical Justice uses medical evidence generated through casework to document medical mistreatment and the harm cause by immigration detention.  This is used as the basis of policy work, strategic litigation and parliamentary work.

In Financial Year 2019-20 our work reached wide – we influenced positive changes in NHS England Service Specifications for the provision of healthcare in detention, benefiting all immigration detainees; we got an injunction banning the use of ‘no notice removal windows’, affecting tens of thousands of those being forcibly removed from the UK; and we act as secretariat for the newly formed All-Party Parliamentary Group on Immigration Detention which we hope will amplify the impact of both our work and that of other organisations.

One former client told me this week “Medical Justice simply surpasses being a charity that supports detainees but is a charity that saves lives, families and promotes equality”.

We hope you will be able to take a look at the report to read more about what has been achieved.

Thank you for your ongoing support, without which our work would not be possible.

Click here to read the review

 

Medical Justice submitted evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee’s report – Home Office preparedness for COVID-19 (Coronavirus): institutional accommodation.

You can read the report here. The section on Immigration Detention starts on Page 37.

 

Below are some selected extracts from the report:

“In supplementary evidence Medical Justice told the Committee that it was important to recognise that, while the use of single rooms might help to contain the spread of infection, it could potentially introduce other risks for many detainees including “social isolation, risk of suicide and self-harming and increased anxiety”.

“Medical Justice criticised the lack of detail in the guidance and questioned why social distancing was not mentioned despite it being “a major component of the various providers’ policy inside of detention”

“Given the current lack of Covid-19 testing available to detainees, Medical Justice argued that cohorting could increase the risk of exposing symptomatic detainees to individuals who are Covid-19 positive, thus increasing their risk of additional infection with Covid-19

Further extracts from the report;

 

“Government guidance which came into force on 5 May 2020, although it was not published until 5 June, confirmed that individuals at high risk of contracting Covid-19 should be treated as AAR Level 3 cases.  This clarification, which confirms the commitment made by the Home Office to the High Court on 26 March, is welcome although earlier publication would have provided greater clarity and reassurance.  Evidence we received from the IRC providers shortly after this guidance came into effect indicated inconsistencies in their implementation of the AAR policy, specifically as it relates to those highly vulnerable detainees at greater risk of becoming ill from Covid-19.  This is deeply concerning, and reflects concerns raised in evidence to us about officials’ attempts to interpret broadly drafted immigration detention policies, and the consequent litigation and uncertainty that can ensue.”

 

“In oral evidence, Mitie told us that it had no adults at risk in its IRCs but that it had around 70 detainees who were “particularly vulnerable” in relation to Covid-19. In subsequent written evidence, Mitie clarified that it had a total of “70 detainees considered vulnerable including AAR and “high” or “at risk” categories” with 35 detainees at level 2 of the AAR and 21 at level 3.” It added that any individuals considered to be potentially “high risk” or “at risk” due to Covid-19, such as detainees over the age of 70 or those with an underlying medical condition, are recorded on arrival at the IRC. In written evidence Serco told us that six of its residents at Yard’s Wood IRC were currently “classed as adults at risk level 2” with none at level 3. In addition, it reported that two of its residents are on supported living plans “due to being at increased risk of COVID-19 due to their current medical issues.”

 

“It is troubling that nearly 40% of those remaining in immigration detention should have been categorised as meeting Levels 2 or 3 of the Adults at Risk policy indicating significant vulnerability and, potentially, that they are at high risk from Covid-19.”

 

“Government guidance on the operation of the adults at risk policy indicates that evidence meeting the standard for Level 2 in the AAR policy “should normally be accepted and consideration given as to how this may be impacted by detention”, while evidence at Level 3 “stating that the individual is at risk and that a period of detention would be likely to cause harm …  should be afforded significant weight…  and any detention reviewed in light of the accepted evidence.”

 

“Written evidence from the British Medical Association (BMA) raised concerns regarding health conditions and testing within IRCs, highlighting that they are “challenging environments for healthcare workers to treat people in at the best of times, with workforce shortages and often dated or under-resourced facilities”. It  cautioned  that “any further reductions” to the medical workforce in IRCs could be “catastrophic to the care that is available.”

 

“Within the immigration removal process, the decision to remove from immigration detention people who did not need to be there, who were not a danger to the public, and who had no prospect of imminent removal was equally sensible.”

Amendment to the Immigration Bill limiting Segregation

Last week, Lord Ramsbotham (pictured below) said during the 2nd reading of the Immigration Bill in the House of Lords that he would be tabling an amendment limiting the use of Segregation in immigration detention.

“I shall be tabling an amendment to end the use of segregation during detention, unique in Europe. People describe the locking up of prisoners who have broken the law for 23 hours a day as inhuman treatment. How much worse is the use of similar treatment on innocent immigrants?”

Read more about the amendment here, including the debate during Committee stage.

Morton Hall to close as an IRC

Medical Justice trustee Janahan Sivanathan (pictured below) and Director, Emma Ginn, spoke to the Guardian.  You can read the article here.

Janahan, a Tamil refugee who is now a law student commented ;

“The fact that this place is closing is a huge thing,”  … “I was there for almost five months in 2014 and was detained there again for five days in 2015. The treatment by the guards and the bullying I experienced there has had long-lasting effects on me. I went on hunger strike and self-harmed, burning myself with cigarettes while I was in there. The scars on my body remind me of that place every single day. The effects are never-ending.”

Janahan said that he hoped the Home Office’s six other immigration detention centres and two short-term holding centres would also close.

Medical Justice submission to the Joint Committee on Human Rights last week

A considerable number of people have been released from immigration detention in response to the Covid-19 crisis. However, most recent figures show that the government is continuing to hold around 650 people under immigration powers, either in immigration removal centres (IRCs) or prisons.

Download the submission in full here.

 

Related Articles

Jesuit Refugee Service publishes its report “‘Detained and Dehumanised: The impact of immigration detention’

Jesuit Refugee Service | 27/06/2020

“Our new report finds immigration detention destroys sense of humanity and fosters culture of death

“People outside will never know what happened there.”
We have today released a report which finds that the indefinite and arbitrary process of immigration detention destroys a person’s sense of humanity and fosters a culture of death, suicide and self-harm; causing long-term damage to physical and mental health. ‘Detained and Dehumanised: The impact of immigration detention’ draws from the accounts of 27 forcibly displaced people supported by JRS UK, with direct experience of detention spanning the last 20 years.”

Download the report here.

“Mental illness concerns at Lincolnshire immigration centre”

BBC | 24/06/2020

“A watchdog has raised concerns over people with mental illnesses being held in an immigration detention centre. A report into Morton Hall near Lincoln found a man with “severe mental health conditions” was held for 70 days before being transferred to a specialist unit.”

“Home Secretary to accept Windrush Lessons Learned recommendations “in full”

Freemovement | 24/06/2020

“The Home Secretary has said that she will be accepting the Windrush Lessons Learned Review “in full”. The report by senior police inspector Wendy Williams, published in March 2020, contains 30 recommendations calling for root and branch reform at the Home Office.”

“Alarming lack of oversight and accountability” at short-term holding facilities”

Freemovement | 24/06/2020

“The prisons inspector has recommended a national overhaul of the short-term detention system after an inspection of the Home Office’s 13 short-term holding facilities (STHFs).”

“Covid-19: Death toll rises to 121 after one more death recorded in M’sia today – Health DG”

Borneo Post | 14/06/2020

“KUCHING: The Covid-19 death toll in Malaysia has risen to 121 as one more death was recorded today, said Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He said the 121st death (Case 7,468) involved a male Indian national aged 67 who was a detainee at the Immigration detention depot in Bukit Jalil.”

 

 

On the 22nd of July 2020, Medical Justice submitted written evidence to the Joint Human Rights Committee Inquiry’s into the Government’s response to COVID-19: human rights implications.

Below are our submissions:

Continue reading “Evidence submitted for inquiry in to the government’s response to COVID-19” →

 

Medical Justice is grateful to Stuart McDonald MP for tabling the segregation amendment which was debated in Committee on 18th June 2020.

This amendment prohibits the use of segregation in detention except in crisis situations, and then only up to 24 hrs

Continue reading “Immigration Bill amendment on the use of segregation in detention” →

 

Due to its high profile and legal significance, C2/2019/0050 FB (Afghanistan) -v- SSHD and C4/2019/2478 Medical Justice -v- SSHD has been selected for live streaming 7-9th July 2020 – you can watch the last day here.

 

Our legal team : left to right, Rakesh Singh (solicitor) and Alison Pickup (barrister) from the Public Law Project, Charlotte Kilroy QC, Tony Vaughan if Garden Court Chambers.

Continue reading “Court of Appeal: Medical Justice challenge Home Office ‘no-notice’ immigration removals” →

 

Video clips from the Committee Meeting discussing the Immigration Bill amendment on segregation 

 

The following clips are taken from the Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill Committee that took place on the 18th of June in which Stuart McDonald MP, an officer of  the All Party Palimentary Group on Immigration Detention, tabled the segregation amendment.

(full video available here)

 

 

Stuart McDonald MP: “I am grateful to Medical Justice for flagging up this particular issue – it’s about the continued use of segregation in IRCs which we believe risks causing severe and permanent damage to detainees …”

 

 

Stuart McDonald MP: “A report from Medical Justice in 2015 showed that segregation is being used as a form of punishment …”

 

 

Stuart McDonald MP: “It’s the actual availability of segregation which perpetuates inappropriate detention of the people who very often end up subject to segregation …”

 

 

Immigration Minister: “any decision to remove a detainee from association with other detainees is not one that should be taken lightly”

 

 

Stuart McDonald MP: “I am grateful to the minister and his explantuion of what should happen but …  what the Minister has just described does not reflect what is actually happening in detention centres”

 

 

 

You are invited to watch the Medical Justice challenge of “no-notice” removals in the Court of Appeal next week

 

Live-stream starts 10am Tuesday 7th July 2020 – listed for 3 days (i.e. 7-9th July inclusive)

 

Due to its high profile and legal significance, C2/2019/0050 FB (Afghanistan) -v- SSHD and C4/2019/2478 Medical Justice -v- SSHD has been selected for live-streaming which you can access by clicking the link above.

This case is about access to justice. The Home Office removal window policy enables it to refuse a migrant’s case and forcibly remove them from the UK within hours and in many cases without access to legal representation.  This has led to a series of deportations which the Home Office has acknowledged were unlawful.

Under the removal window policy we didn’t know whether our clients would still be in the country from one day to the next which made supporting them and planning casework even more difficult than usual. 

In March 2019, at Medical Justice’s request, the Administrative Court granted an injunction suspending the no-notice removals policy – this is making an enormous and vital difference in our ability to manage our casework and support clients.  All organisations and lawyers representing migrants subjected to removal notices are still benefiting from the injunction. Many thousands of migrants may have been affected.
 
This hearing is to appeal a ruling by the Administrative Court in September 2019 and ties together challenges brought by Medical Justice, represented by Public Law Project (PLP), and FB, an individual represented by Duncan Lewis Solicitors.  Medical Justice’s barristers are Charlotte Kilroy QC of Blackstone Chambers, Alison Pickup, PLP’s Legal Director and Tony Vaughan of Garden Court Chambers. The instructing solicitor is Rakesh Singh of PLP.          

Medical Justice’s Dr Mary Kamara and Dr Rachel Bingham speak out in the British Medical Journal

“It is important to recognise that immigration detention is inherently harmful to health, and we regard it as part of the “deeply dysfunctional system” that the authors refer to. Well-documented health and mental health risks of immigration detention predate the pandemic (7), but COVID-19 has added an unjustified additional risk to the health of detainees and staff. We hope that this small but vulnerable group of immigration detainees is not overlooked in any future public inquiry, especially in light of the fact that none are serving a criminal sentence – their detention is optional. Most of them cannot be deported due to the global lockdown so the risk to their health, and that of the staff, is entirely avoidable.”

Continue reading “MJ doctors speak out / HMIP releases worrying report / more news…” →

The first annual audit report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) into the operation of the Home Office’s Adults at Risk policy was recently published.
 
The Chief Inspector made a catalogue of criticisms.  We feel these were a polite way of saying the policy is a mess.

Continue reading “Chief Inspector casts aspersions on the Adults at Risk policy” →