Immigration Removal Centres Research Articles

Power and Purpose in an Immigration Removal Centre

Abstract How is power manifest inside an immigration removal centre (IRC), and does the basic function of the institution align with staff’s sense of purpose? Drawing on interviews with employees at Brook House IRC, I argue that power is simultaneously present, absent and elsewhere. Staff acknowledge the presence of power in their ‘immigration prison’, but routinely feel an absence of authority, and note that decisions about immigration cases are made elsewhere. I then analyze how employees speak about the purpose of their work, which they see as providing both security and welfare. I conclude that the twin realities of power and purpose, security and welfare, create a dilemma for staff, IRCs and the liberal state as a whole.

Brook House immigration removal centre.

Brook House immigration removal centre.

Migration, abjection and visibility: the photographic projects of Sam Ivin, Melanie Friend and Yetunde Adebiyi

ABSTRACT This paper examines the work of three photographers addressing the experiences of migrants awaiting decisions upon, or denied residency applications by the UK government. While Sam Ivin’s Lingering Ghosts portraits convey the emotional and embodied impacts upon migrants awaiting notification of asylum requests, Melanie Friend’s images of Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) investigate the spaces of exclusion and detention within the UK border control system. The paper concludes by examining Yetunde Adebiyi’s images of protests outside Yarl’s Wood IRC, Bedford and alternative communities for “non-legal” migrants in Liverpool. These images are put in the context of a process of “social abjection” , whereby migrants have been increasingly marginalised through negative media and government policy, ultimately diminishing or denying citizenship to certain groups within society. This raises issues of mobility justice , in that individuals’ experience of mobility is in sharp contrast to that of UK citizens and impacted by multi-scalar entanglements of other (im)mobilities. Individuals’ bodily and spatial experience of, and agency over (im)mobility is related to their visibility, and agency over being visible. By exposing the relative experiences of mobility and visibility the photographs provide a potential site of advocacy for mobility justice but can also draw attention to the unequal experiences of citizenship of subject, photographer and viewer. By suggesting that photographs constitute and engender a social relationship between these parties, the paper proposes that photographic projects might offer a potential “civil contract” between those with very different experiences of mobility, visibility and citizenship.

Gendering detention: (re)producing vulnerability for migrant women in British Immigration Removal Centres

Less than 10% of migrants in immigration detention in the UK are women, despite high-profile cases such as Yarl’s Wood IRC, and so previous research concerned with the experience of detention focuses on the general migrant population which consists mainly of men. Therein lies an uncomfortable gendered nexus between a feminised vulnerability which sustains anti-detention narratives and the somatic masculinity of the detention estate. The experiences of men are treated as the norm, despite the differing and gendered experiences of detained women. This article addresses this gap by drawing together theoretical and empirical literature focusing on the experiences of migrant women detained in the UK and conceptualising Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) as a microcosm through which to theorise the control and dehumanisation of migrant bodies within the contemporary context of the ‘Hostile Environment’. In particular, this article pays close attention to the intersection of gender and immigration status for migrant detainees as their experiences of pregnancy, sex work and sexual violence implicate how they experience detention.

Afterword: The Refugee Tales Walking Inquiry into Immigration Detention

The purpose of this afterword is to provide an update on the recent actions of the Refugee Tales project against the background of new developments in UK policies on asylum and immigration. The afterword reports on the parliamentary launch of the Refugee Tales Walking Inquiry into Immigration Detention. It then considers the implications of the UK government’s proposal to offshore asylum processing to Rwanda and, more broadly, of the new powers to detain and deport established by the Illegal Migration Bill. The afterword details the development, process, and findings of the Walking Inquiry and shows how those findings relate to and extend the remit of the official Public Inquiry into ‘the mistreatment of individuals who were detained at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre in 2017’. In conclusion, it comments on the importance of Refugee Tales’ practice of walking, as a process of collective action and deliberation, and as counter to the politics of hostility.

FRI-182 - Improving blood borne virus screening in immigration removal centres in the UK

FRI-182 - Improving blood borne virus screening in immigration removal centres in the UK

A hidden challenge: exploring food refusal in prisons

British Journal of NursingVol. 32, No. 8 CommentA hidden challenge: exploring food refusal in prisonsDonna PhillipsDonna Phillips(E-mail Address: [email protected])Head of Safeguarding, Spectrum Community Health CIC, WakefieldSearch for more papers by this authorDonna PhillipsPublished Online:21 Apr 2023https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2023.32.8.S6AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail View article References Department of Health. Guidelines for the clinical management of people refusing food in immigration removal centres and prisons. London: DH: 2010 Google ScholarHome Office. Detention services order 03/2017. Care and management of detained individuals refusing food and/or fluid. 2022. https://tinyurl.com/yhfua8c5 (accessed 6 April 2023) Google ScholarNational Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Nutrition support for adults: oral nutrition support, enteral tube feeding and parenteral nutrition. Clinical guideline CG32. 2017 (updated from 2006). https://tinyurl.com/yewcx292 (accessed 6 April 2023) Google ScholarNHS England Health and Justice. Health and justice. 2023. https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/health-just (accessed 3 April 2023) Google Scholar FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails 20 April 2023Volume 32Issue 8ISSN (print): 0966-0461ISSN (online): 2052-2819 Metrics History Published online 21 April 2023 Published in print 20 April 2023 Information© MA Healthcare LimitedPDF download

Green Hell: Detention, art, and activism in an English landscape

This paper revolves on the carceral practices of Morton Hall IRC (Immigration Removal Centre) and of the role of visual imagery in the campaigns against them. Morton Hall is located in Lincolnshire, a rural county in England with a long history of agricultural innovation. It observes and debates a sense of the dissonance between institution and location that Morton Hall shared with Manus Island in the Pacific, the site of another postcolonial prison camp also in a beautiful setting. We interrogate how the legacies of British colonialism in the Pacific might help to explain that shared incongruity between function and place. We discuss a public initiative that aimed to give artistic and activist expression to these insights by highlighting the physical, historical, and emotional connections between Lincoln, the surrounding countryside, and the IRC. The aim of this planned event, The Big Walk, was to show that there is no absolute spatial disconnect between places of incarceration and places of freedom. In describing and analysing the cultural legacy of the planned event, curtailed by the 2020 pandemic, we draw on the wider oeuvre of British-Croatian artist, Natasha Davis, which include a film (2020) commissioned to replace the Walk and yet draw attention to the landscape as layered by time and memory, a landscape that yields ups a cross-temporal narrative spored beneath our feet.

Towards a criminology of public inquiries: From cautious optimism to contestation in the Brook House Inquiry

Although UK public inquiries garner huge amounts of public attention, there have been few systematic studies of their role in scrutinising and reforming criminal justice policy and practice. This is despite a growing number of inquiries, held under the Inquiries Act 2005, into critical matters relating to policing, justice and home affairs. This article explores the contested nature of statutory inquiries as mechanisms for accountability and opportunity for policy reform. We suggest that inquiries provide fertile grounds for criminological analysis, if we understand them as sites of contestation where political priorities compete over questions of procedure, scope and participation. Our focus is on the Brook House Inquiry into the mistreatment of detainees in a British immigration removal centre. The analysis shows a tension between the public-facing nature of inquiries and their legalistic processes.

The Politics of Pain in Immigration Detention

In this paper I draw on qualitative material from the first complete data set of the ‘ Measure of the Quality of Life in Detention’ (MQLD) survey in the UK to reflect on its implication for understanding and challenging these sites. While similarities between immigration detention centres and prisons make it tempting to place the testimonies from people in detention within the framework of the ‘pains of imprisonment’, I propose an alternative reading of these first-hand accounts. Rather than approaching them as sociological statements of suffering, caused by the loss of liberty, I interpret them as political statements which, in turn, demand a political response. Immigration removal centres (IRCs), these people assert, are fundamentally at odds with key values of a liberal democracy. Those detained within them are not considered to be equal members of a shared community of value; rather, their incarceration marks them out symbolically and, quite practically, as outsiders to these ideas. The pain people describe illuminates the need for a new politics of detention.

Mental health in immigration detention: A comparison of foreign national ex-prisoners and other detainees.

People held in immigration removal centres have a range of vulnerabilities relating both to disappointment at imminent removal from the country of hoped-for residence and various antecedent difficulties. An important subgroup in the UK is of foreign national ex-prisoners who have served a period of incarceration there. Prisoners generally have higher rates of mental disorders than the general population. It is, however, not clear whether foreign national ex-prisoners in UK immigration removal centres have higher rates of mental disorders than other detainees. To compare the screened prevalence of mental disorders, levels of unmet needs and time in detention between foreign national ex-prisoners and others in Immigration Removal Centres in England. We conducted a secondary analysis of cross-sectional survey data from a previously published study in one Immigration Removal Centre. The 28 foreign national ex-prisoners had been in immigration detention for longer and reported greater levels of unmet needs than the other 66 detainees. The highest levels of unmet needs among the foreign national ex-prisoners were in the areas of psychological distress and intimate relationships. After adjusting for time spent in detention, there was evidence to suggest that foreign national ex-prisoners had a higher screened prevalence of substance use disorders, autism spectrum disorders and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder than the other detainees. This study supports the view that foreign national ex-prisoners are a vulnerable group within immigration detention who have needs for enhanced and specialist service provision, including appropriate arrangements for health screening and active consideration to alternatives to their detention.

Healthcare provision inside immigration removal centres: A social identity analysis of trust, legitimacy and disengagement.

The stressors of immigration detention and negative host country experiences make effective access to health care vital for migrant detainees, but little is known regarding the health experiences of this populations and the barriers to healthcare access. The present research investigates immigration detainees' experiences of health-related help-seeking in the distressing and stigmatised environment of UK immigration removal centres (IRCs), as well as staff members' experiences of providing help. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 40 detainees and 21 staff and analysed using theoretical thematic analysis guided by the social identity approach. The findings indicate that the practical constraints on help provision (e.g. lack of time and resources, the unpredictable nature of detention) are exacerbated by the complex and conflictual intergroup relationships within which these helping transactions occur. These transactions are negatively affected by stigma, mutual distrust and reputation management concerns, as well as detainees' feelings of powerlessness and confusion around eligibility to receive health care. Some detainees argued that the help ignores the systematic inequalities associated with their detainee status, thereby making it fundamentally inappropriate and ineffective. The intergroup context (of inequality and illegitimacy) shapes the quality of helping transactions, care experiences and health service engagement in groups experiencing chronic low status, distress and uncertainty.

COVID-19: digital equivalence of health care in English prisons

COVID-19: digital equivalence of health care in English prisons

“Escaping the Sunken Place: indefinite detention, asylum seekers, and resistance in Yarl’s Wood IRC”

The Law Society has recently raised concerns about the UK’s migration system, stating that ‘failures in UK immigration and asylum undermine the rule of law’. Nowhere are those problems more apparent than in the UK’s handling of migrants and asylum seekers in detention centres. A particular recurring issue that speaks to the Law Society’s concern is the absence of a defined time limit for immigration detention. The possibility of indefinite detention has been a source of tension both within British politics, and within UK immigration detention centres. An example of this can be understood with reference to the Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) in Bedfordshire, known for its controversial and rebellious past. In 2015 Nick Hardwick, a former chief prisoner inspector, labelled the Centre a place of ‘national concern’, after examining the mistreatment of vulnerable detainees. Yarl’s Wood’s problematic history, seems to have continued into the present, following a detainee led hunger strike that resulted in ‘renewed concerns’ over health care in detention centres. In addition to protesting the standard of medical treatment received by detainees, the strikers’ underlying focus was on indefinite detention. The Home Office’s response to these strikes was unsympathetic, it sent a letter to detainees suggesting that their continued participation in the strike may in fact result in their removal being accelerated. Although, the hunger strike ended in March 2018 the Home Office’s response to the strike raised some interesting legal and philosophical questions about human rights and resistance in detention centres. In order to grapple with some of these issues, this paper has been separated into two parts. The first part will attempt to contextualise the existing immigration regime and explore how legal disputes might fit within the broader scheme of opposing indefinite detention. It will also briefly examine the legal challenges that may arise from the use of threats of accelerated deportations.

New approaches to controlling an outbreak of chickenpox in a large immigration detention setting in England: the role of serological testing and mathematical modelling.

Chickenpox is caused by varicella-zoster-virus (VZV) and is highly contagious. Immigration detention settings are a high-risk environment for primary VZV transmission, with large, rapidly-changing populations in close quarters, and higher susceptibility among non-UK-born individuals. During outbreaks, operational challenges occur in detention settings because of high-turnover and the potential need to implement population movement restriction for prolonged periods. Between December 2017 and February 2018, four cases of chickenpox were notified amongst 799 detainees in an immigration removal centre (IRC). Microbiological investigations included case confirmation by vesicular fluid polymerase chain reaction, and VZV serology for susceptibility testing. Control measures involved movement restrictions, isolation of cases, quarantining and cohorting of non-immune contacts and extending VZV immunity testing to the wider detainee population to support outbreak management. Immunity was tested for 301/532 (57%) detainees, of whom 24 (8%) were non-immune. The level of non-immunity was lower than expected based on the existing literature on VZV seroprevalence in detained populations in England. Serology results identified non-immune contacts who could be cohorted and, due to the lack of isolation capacity, allowed the placement of cases with immune detainees. The widespread immunity testing of all detainees was proving challenging to sustain because it required significant resources and was having a severe impact on operational capacity and the ability to maintain core business activities at the IRC. Therefore, mathematical modelling was used to assess the impact of scaling back mass immunity testing. Modelling demonstrated that interrupting testing posed a risk of one additional case compared to continuing with testing. As such, the decision was made to stop testing, and the outbreak was successfully controlled without excessive strain on resources. Operational challenges generated learning for future outbreaks, with implications for a local and national policy on IRC staff occupational health requirements, and proposed reception screening of detainees for VZV immunity.

Female Asylum Seekers: A Critical Attitude on UK Immigration Removal Centres

The context to this article is sovereign biopower as experienced by female asylum seekers in the confined spaces of UK Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs). With approximately 27,000 migrants entering immigration detention in 2017, the UK’s immigration detention estate is one of the largest in Western Europe. Through an empirical study with former detainees, this article outlines how women experience Agamben’s politically bare life through IRC practices that confine, dehumanise, and compound their asylum vulnerabilities. It also explains how micro-transgressions around detention food, social relations, and faith practices reflect a Foucauldian critical attitude and restore a degree of political agency to asylum applicants. Centrally this article argues that everyday acts of resistance – confirming their identities as human / gendered / cultural beings with social belonging – can be read as political agency in women’s questioning of their asylum administration. As such, this article offers a rare insight on biopower and political agency as lived and performed by women inside the in/exclusive spaces of the IRC.

The psychosocial experience of UK immigration detention

Purpose Existing quantitative research demonstrates negatively impacted mental health outcomes for people detained in immigration removal centres (IRCs) in the UK. However, there is limited qualitative research on the phenomenology of life inside UK IRCs. The purpose of this paper is to explore the psychosocial stressors experienced by people in detention, the psychological impacts of being detained and the ways in which people express resilience and cope in detention. Design/methodology/approach In-depth interviews were conducted with nine people who had previously been held in UK IRCs. Interview transcripts were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings Participants experienced incredulity and cognitive dissonance at being detained, and found themselves deprived of communication and healthcare needs. These stressors led participants to feel powerless, doubt themselves and their worldviews, and ruminate about their uncertain futures. However, participants also demonstrated resilience, and used proactive behaviours, spirituality and personal relationships to cope in detention. Antonovsky’s (1979) theory on wellbeing – sense of coherence – was found to have particular explanatory value for these findings. Research limitations/implications The sample of participants used in this study was skewed towards male, Iranian asylum seekers, and the findings therefore may have less applicability to the experiences of females, ex-prisoners and people from different geographical and cultural backgrounds. Originality/value This study offers a range of new insights into how detention in the UK impacts on people’s lives. The findings may be useful to policy makers who legislate on and regulate the UK immigration detention system, as well as custodial staff and health and social care practitioners working in IRCs.

Understanding and coping with immigration detention: Social identity as cure and curse

AbstractOver 29,000 foreign nationals are detained yearly in British Immigration Removal Centres for undefined periods. This study investigated the role played by social identities in the way detainees are affected by, make sense of, and deal with detention. An opportunity sample of 40 detainees was interviewed on topics including support, identity, and well‐being, and data were analysed using theoretical thematic analysis. Participants struggled with loss of social networks, loss of rights, loss of agency, and joining a stigmatised group. Social identities guided exchange of support, aided meaning‐making, and mitigated distrust, serving as ‘Social Cures’. However, shared identities could also be sources of burden, ostracism, and distress, serving as ‘Social Curses’. Inability to maintain existing identities or create new ones fuelled feelings of isolation. Participants also reported rejection/avoidance of social identities to maximise their benefits. This study is the first to apply the Social Identity Approach to the experience of immigration detention.

Affect and authority in immigration detention

Drawing on a long-term research project across a number of British Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs), this article considers the relationship between authority and affect. In contrast to much criminological literature on the prison, which advances a liberal political account in which power is constantly negotiated and based on mutual recognition, in detention, this article suggests, staff authority rests on an abrogation of their self rather than engagement with the other. Officers turn away (deny) and switch off (emotionally withdraw) from those before them in order to do their job. In these terms, we bear witness to the affective nature of wielding power at the border. Operating without a clear basis of moral legitimacy, officer testimonies make clear, is painful and corrosive, for staff and for detainees. It may work, in other words, but at what cost?

Living the spectre of forced return: negotiating deportability in British immigration detention

Abstract Immigration detention and deportation are being increasingly utilised in many countries as key state responses to irregular migration. These practices work together to force migrants to their countries of origin or third countries, offering limited choice about whether to stay or leave. Drawing on a multi-sited ethnographic study of British immigration detention, this paper explores how detainees negotiate deportability and their accounts of the spectre of departing the United Kingdom, often against their wishes and occasionally by force. It analyses how deportability and the institutional structures and logics of immigration detention coalesce to shape detainees’ understandings of their positions and options as deportable subjects. The paper highlights the materiality of return from immigration detention and the complexities and multiplicities of how detainees account for their possible departures in relation to the themes of identity, belonging, and home. British immigration removal centres can be understood as ‘sites of struggle’ in which those subject to detention and deportation negotiate these interconnected practices, acting as best they can within coercive and isolating carceral institutions.