This report features the cases of 35 Medical Justice clients who were being detained at some point in the 18 months between June 2009 and November 2010. They all faced removal to countries where they would potentially be unable to continue treatment for their HIV infection.

80% of the cases are female. There were a small number of children and teenagers. 80% discovered their HIV infection after their arrival in the UK. Some individuals only learned of their HIV infection after they were screened in detention. Several people reported contracting HIV after being sexually assaulted.

Interruptions and disruptions in antiretroviral therapy occur repeatedly in detention. 60% experienced disruptions in their medication as a result of failures by staff in detention centres to provide drugs, failures to facilitate external appointments, failures to ensure that people were given medication en route to detention centres, and administrative errors. One person was given a significant overdose of her medication in detention.

Three people were so afraid of being deported that they hoarded their drugs and, subsequently, attempted to overdose in an effort to end their own lives.

When detained, people may be subjected to clinical practices which are demeaning, degrading, and which in some cases may have worsened their condition. 66% had their right to quality primary and secondary clinical care (in ways other than those set out above) violated. These included practices putting people at risk of contracting opportunistic infections, failures to adequately investigate symptoms indicative of HIV.

infection, failures to respect the confidentiality of detainees and failures to carry out or pass on the results of tests to determine resistance to particular medications. Some people were forced to undergo consultations whilst handcuffed to escorts.

This report is the first large scale exploration in the UK of the physical and psychological harms caused and aggravated by the detention of children for immigration purposes. 141 cases are featured in this report, involving children who were detained between 2004 and April 2010. One child had spent 166 days in detention, over numerous separate periods, before her third birthday. 48% of the children were born in the UK.

“The indefinite detention of children who have committed no crime is a source of national shame. Yet, as this report describes, it is exactly what has been happening. It makes for alarming reading, and reveals a catalogue of harm. Not only have children being mentally and physically damaged, they have been denied adequate medical care.

Many of those who have been detained have been left severely traumatised. Some children have been hurt to such an extent that they have tried to end their own lives.

The findings of this report present a picture which, ultimately, suggests that in many cases children’s rights are given less precedence than immigration control. This cannot be acceptable. There is more than enough evidence in what follows to support the recommendation that the detention of children for immigration purposes should end immediately.

There is no need to continue a policy which causes untold suffering. It can stop, and it should do. “
Jeremy Corbyn MP

In all cases in our dossier, what may have started off as ‘reasonable’ force turned into what we consider to be excessive force.

This dossier reached nearly 300 cases of alleged assault. The alleged assaults took place between January 2004 and June 2008. In addition to our findings, 48 detailed case studies are included in Part 2.

One asylum seeker ended up with his leg in a plaster cast and a woman was pushed through airports in a wheelchair after having allegedly been assaulted. The most common form of injury recorded resulted from inappropriate use of handcuffing, including swelling and cuts to the wrist, sometimes leading to long lasting nerve damage. Other injuries included bruising and swelling to the face and fractures to the wrists, ribs or ankles. Often psychological consequences resulted, such as the onset or exacerbation of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic attacks, suicidal feelings and depression.

66 % of alleged assaults were against men and 34 % against women. 48% of the assaults occurred at the airport before the detainee was placed on the plane and 12 % took place in the transport van on the way to the airport. 24% of alleged assaults took place on the aeroplane before take-off and 3% after take-off. 7% took place in the van back to the detention centre after the removal had already failed and 6 % took place within detention centres.

There were 27 alleged incidents involving families, comprising a total of 42 children, 5 of whom are alleged to have been assaulted themselves.

Many of those assaulted made allegations of racism against the escort; there are repeated accounts of abusive language used such as “black bitch” and “black monkey, go back to your own country.”

Alleged assaults took place on scheduled airline flights, charter flights and military planes. Private jets have also been arranged to remove people from the UK.

This report was published after Medical Justice had assisted its first 500 clients. Medical Justice doctors recorded their findings on examining the first 56 consecutive cleints treated in a six month period in four UK detention centres, before, or shortly after, their release.

The report was written for the parliamentary launch of Medical Justice, hosted by Lord Ramsbotham.

“Medical Justice has been in existence for almost two years and has grown faster than anyone envisaged. It owes its existence entirely to the extraordinary generosity of everyone involved in working with it. It is an organisation built on people’s kindness to others and on a shared belief in human dignity and freedom.

Medical Justice’s work relies on a unique and exciting collaboration between asylum seekers, ex-detainees, solicitors, barristers, doctors, nurses, campaigners, detention centre visitors and other volunteers.

In my work with Medical Justice as a barrister, my experience has been that a culture has evolved in which people held in detention centres are perceived as having less value than those with legal rights to be in this country. Many detainees describe a feeling of being treated like “nothing” or like “dirt”. Such a perception is hurtful to those involved and it violates their dignity as human beings. But the problem is not only that people in detention are perceived as being of less value, it is that they also come to be treated as such.

All of those who work with detainees share experiences of neglect, discrimination and abuse on a scale that is saddening and frightening. I see Medical Justice’s work as reminding ourselves that we must treat all people with equal value, not just for those people’s sakes, but for the sake of our society.” – Alex Goodman, Chair of Medical Justice