Politics

What's wrong with Yarls Wood?

The controversial detention centre has been slammed in a new report

August 12, 2015
Yarl's Wood Immigration detention centre. © Sean Dempsey/PA Wire/Press Association Images
Yarl's Wood Immigration detention centre. © Sean Dempsey/PA Wire/Press Association Images

What's that?

The detention centre Yarls Wood was set up by the last Labour government—it opened in 2001— to hold people about to be deported from Britain. It has proved controversial ever since, with various episodes making the national press from a fire caused by a detainees' protest soon after it opened to hunger strikes and allegations of sexual abuse—always robustly denied by Serco, which has operated the centre since 2007. Today, Chief Inspector of Prisons Nick Hardwick has unveiled a new report on the centre. The report calls it "a place of national concern" which is "not meeting the needs of vulnerable women."

What are the problems?

The lengthy report details a range of issues, but here are some key ones:

Nearly half the women surveyed for the report said they felt depressed or suicidal when they arrived. Despite this, there was no counselling service and some of the most vulnerable women at the centre were detained without a clear reason. Pharmacy services were poor and there wasn't enough mental health care.

Many women didn't feel safe. Though the report found that "most" use of force was "well managed," 42 per cent of women said they felt unsafe—an increase on 29 per cent at the previous inspection—due to their uncertain immigration status, a poor introduction to the centre, very poor health care and having too few visible staff on the units.

There aren't enough staff, with the report describing staffing levels as "inadequate," and some staff lacked understanding of detainees’ situations.

So what needs to be done?

Hardwick's report recommends that the prison recruit more female staff, so that at 60 per cent in direct contact with female prisoners are women. He wants the centre to stop detaining people with "enduring mental health illnesses" and says pregnant women should only be detained in the most "exceptional" circumstances.