ACCESS TO LEGAL ADVICE
97. The legal advice available to detainees appears
not always to be of an acceptable standard. The Chief Inspector
of Prisons, reporting on her inspections of five immigration Centres,
judged that detainees were unable easily to obtain good legal
advice, and that in a number of centres they were "clearly
targeted by unscrupulous advisers who were able to prey on their
vulnerability". Inadequate provision of interpreting services
meant that detainees reported being unable to understand what
representatives told them.[126]
Ms Nicola Rogers of the Immigration Law Practitioners' Association
claimed that members of her organisation "[had] come across
cases where people have been very badly represented or once they
have gone into detention their representative has forgotten about
them".[127] She
told us that the charities providing free legal advice were extremely
overstretched and therefore could not always take on cases, and
that "representation of a detained case involves much more
work than for someone who is on the outside, because of setting
up meetings", especially when the Removal Centre is in a
fairly remote location, such as Dungavel.[128]
Ms Rogers compared the experience of an immigration detainee to
that of a remand prisoner, to whom routine legal advice is always
available through a duty solicitor, and suggested that a similar
duty scheme should be made available in Removal Centres.
98. Mr Banks, Chief Operating Officer of Group 4
Falck Global Solutions Ltd, which runs Campsfield House, Yarl's
Wood and Oakington Reception Centre, told us that in his organisation's
Removal Centres, detainees can receive legal visits between 9
am and 9 pm, and outside those times if urgent. He said that incoming
phone lines allow legal representatives to call at any time and
that detainees can communicate with their representatives by post
or fax, at the company's expense. Telephone numbers to the free
legal services provided by the two charities, the Refugee Legal
Centre and Immigration Advisory Service, are advertised within
the Centre and through the induction process for new arrivals.[129]
99. We accept that current arrangements for access
to legal advice are inadequate. It may be that the matter can
be resolved by appointment of a welfare officer, as we have recommended
at paragraph 75 above, who can either put detainees in touch with
their own legal representatives or who can provide access to emergency
legal advice. Failing that, however, consideration should be given
to providing detainees with access to a duty solicitor.
SELF-HARM
100. The report of the Chief Inspector of Prisons
found that healthcare, and mental health care in particular, "was
an issue" in most centres inspected. She also found that
the necessary procedural safeguards and strategies to protect
against suicide, self-harm and bullying had not been put in place
in the privately-run Removal Centres she inspected.[130]
101. The Minister of State told us that although
statistics were not available on self-harm in Removal Centres,
"the numbers of [ ... ] incidents are relatively small".[131]
Although contractors and operators of Centres are obliged to monitor
occurrences of self-harm, this is not done in a sufficiently standardised
way to enable the production of reliable statistics. The Minister
said that "we probably need to strengthen the extent to which
we collate information and have a really robust picture of those
incidents" and that work was progressing on "a systematic
and standardised method of defining and recording such incidents".[132]
102. We welcome the Minister's undertaking to
develop better statistical information about instances of self-harm
in Removal Centres.
88 Those arriving at a UK port without leave to enter,
and those arriving with leave to enter, whose leave is suspended
by an immigration officer, may be detained while awaiting examination
by an officer and pending a decision on whether to admit them.
Individuals refused leave to enter, or suspected of having been
refused, and illegal entrants may be detained pending a decision
to give removal directions, and pending removal itself. In the
same way, those subject to administrative removal may be detained
pending a decision to remove and then pending removal, as may
crews of ships and aircrafts who remain, or intend to remain beyond
the leave granted, or abscond or intend to abscond, or who are
suspected of any of these things. Finally, those subject to deportation
may also be detained, between receiving a notice of deportation,
a recommendation for deportation or a deportation order, and the
deportation itself. Back
89
In answer to a Parliamentary Question in January 2003, the Minister
of State said that "although the routine use of prison accommodation
for immigration detainees had ended, there would remain a need
to hold small numbers of individual detainees in prison for reasons
of security and control" (HC Deb, 27 January 2003, col 708W). Back
90
Asylum Statistics: 4th Quarter 2002 United Kingdom,
Home Office, February 2003; Asylum Statistics United Kingdom
2001, Home Office, July 2002 Back
91
Secure Borders, Safe Haven: Integration with Diversity in Modern
Britain, Cm 5387, Home Office, February 2002, p 66, para 4.74 Back
92
Q 482 Back
93
Ev 126, para 5 Back
94
Ev 166, para 3.13 Back
95
Q 677; Q 680 Back
96
Q 675 Back
97
Q 682 Back
98
Secure Borders, Safe Haven, p 67, para 4.77 Back
99
Ev 144, para 23 Back
100
Ev 166, para 3.14 Back
101
Introduction and Summary of Findings: Inspection of five Immigration
Service custodial establishments, HM Inspectorate of Prisons,
Home Office, April 2003, p 5, para 1.7; p 10 Back
102
"Home Office Response to HMCIP Reports on Immigration Removal
Centres", Home Office Press Notice 106/2003, 8 April 2003 Back
103
Ev 127, para 10 Back
104
Ev 144, para 24 Back
105
Ev 127, para 11 [Bail for Immigration Detainees] Back
106
Q 689, Q 687 Back
107
Ev 97, para 4 Back
108
Q 686 Back
109
The Detention Centre Rules 2001 (S.I., 2001, No. 238) Back
110
Inspection of five Immigration Service custodial establishments,
p 5 Back
111
The Detention Centre Rules 2001 (S.I., 2001, No. 238) Back
112
Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, section 152 Back
113
Inspection of five Immigration Service custodial establishments,
p 5 Back
114
Ibid., p 7 Back
115
Ibid., p 8 Back
116
Ibid., p 10 Back
117
"Home Office Response to HMCIP Reports on Immigration Removal
Centres", Home Office Press Notice 106/2003, 8 April 2003 Back
118
The Detention Centre Rules 2001 (S.I., 2001, No. 238) Back
119
Ev 109 Back
120
Ev 107; Ev 113 Back
121
Inspection of five Immigration custodial establishments,
p 9 Back
122
Qq 474-80 Back
123
Inspection of five Immigration custodial establishments,
p 5; p 7; p 8 Back
124
Q 690 Back
125
Ev 90, para 9 Back
126
Inspection of five Immigration custodial establishments,
pp 6-7 Back
127
Q 513 Back
128
Q 531 Back
129
Q 310 Back
130
Inspection of five Immigration custodial establishments,
pp 6-7 Back
131
Q 693 Back
132
Q 695; Ev 90, para 10 Back