Yarl's Wood IRC

Yarl's Wood IRC is a UK immigration removal centre, operated by a private contractor, Serco Limited, on behalf of the UK Home Office under the Detention Centre Rules 2001. It is located outside the village of Clapham in Bedfordshire, England.

List of centre managers and assistants

• David Watson was centre manager of Yarl's Wood IRC for Group 4 from January 2001 to January 2003 during which time a major fire occurred.
• Joanne Henney was deputy centre manager for G4S from June 2003 to June 2006.
• James Wilkinson was contract director for Serco at Yarl's Wood IRC over 18 months from December 2010 to May 2012.
• Lisa Hooper was assistant director for Serco from October 2008 to June 2015 (ongoing)
• Victoria Murray was "Assistant Director (Business Assurance)" for Serco at Yarl's Wood IRC during 2010 and then deputy contract director there in 2011.

Senior staff

• Ian Scrupps was a business development manager for Serco from 2007 to July 2008, during which time he helped Serco transition onto their new contract for Yarl's Wood IRC.
• David Tanner is a Non Executive Director of the Yarl's Wood Immigration Centre Contract Board for Serco since 2013.

Group 4/GSL management

When Yarl's Wood was opened in 2001, it initially accommodated 900 people in two blocks, making it the largest immigration prison in Europe at the time. The management of the centre was contracted to Global Solutions Ltd. (GSL), which was then owned by Group 4 Amey Immigration Ltd, owned by Amey Assets Services Ltd and Group 4 Falck.

2001 Hunger strike

In December 2001, just a month after the centre opened, five Roma detainees began the first hunger strike there.

2002 Fire

In February 2002, the prison was burnt down following a protest by detainees triggered by a 55-year-old woman being physically restrained by staff. When the fire started, the centre manager ordered all staff to exit the building, locking the detainees inside the timber-framed building. It later emerged that the government had also failed to install a sprinkler system. Although there was an investigation, no members of Group 4 were ever prosecuted. The centre was closed and the burnt B site was demolished.

In September 2003, the undamaged half was re-opened after extensive rebuilding, with an initial capacity of 60. The centre's capacity was increased to 120 by August 2004 and to its full operational capacity of 405 by the end of 2005. The other half is still a waste-land.

2003 Daily Mirror undercover

In December 2003, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman for England and Wales launched an investigation into allegations of racism and physical abuse at Yarl's Wood revealed by a Daily Mirror undercover reporter on 8 December 2003. The inquiry's final report, published in March 2004, was largely based on the internal investigation by the centre's management, which the Ombudsman described as having been 'helpful'. Although admitting that the 19 incidents reported did happen, the investigation concluded that they "did not indicate a culture of racism and improper use of force."

2005 death

On 15 September 2005, Angolan asylum seeker Manual Bravo was found hanged at Yarl's Wood. He was detained there with his 13-year-old son, Antonio. Prior to detention, the family lived in Leeds and attended church regularly. The father and son were snatched in a dawn raid and taken to Yarl's Wood. Manual took his life within 24 hours of arriving there.

2006 inspection, riot and unlawful detention

An inquiry by the Chief Inspector of Prisons in 2006 into the quality of healthcare at Yarl's Wood found that the healthcare service provided was "not geared to meet the needs of those with serious health problems or the significant number of detainees held for longer periods for whom prolonged and uncertain detention was itself likely to be detrimental to their well being." Mental health care provision for women detainees was particularly insufficient. Similar concerns have been echoed by subsequent inspection reports.

"The worst feature that emerges from these inspections is the dehumanising aspects of the immigration removal process itself. Some of those we observed in detention had been dealt with by the immigration authorities as though they were parcels, not people; and parcels whose contents and destination were sometimes incorrect." - HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers, February 2006

In November 2006, a group of detainees rioted after being denied watching a news report criticising conditions at the centre.

A 2006 report by Legal Action for Women, entitled A 'Bleak House' in Our Times, found that over 70 percent of the women detained in Yarl's Wood were rape victims. Few of the 130 women surveyed were able to get specialist help and some were detained for over a year.[4]

A woman rape survivor, who had fled Cameroon after suffering rape and other torture, was detained at Yarl's Wood in December 2006, shortly after her arrival in the UK. She reported to the authorities that she was a rape survivor and, according to the Detention Centre Rules, should have been seen by a medical practitioner within 24 hours. Her report of rape was ignored and she was put on fast-track for deportation. In February 2008, she won £38,000 in damages for being unlawfully detained.[5]

Serco

In April 2007, Serco Ltd took over the management, operation and maintenance of Yarl's Wood, for an initial period of three years, with optional extension to up to eight years. Over the full eight years, the contract is valued at around £85m.[6]

Under Serco, Yarl's Wood became the UK's main immigration removal centre for women and families (until the end of child detention in 2010), with 284 single female and 121 family bed spaces. The contract had been awarded in December 2006.[7]

2007 hunger strike

In May 2007, a month after Serco took over the running of the centre, women detainees began a hunger strike in response to new measures introduced by the new management.

2008 expansion plans

In May 2008, the Home Office announced it will take forward planning applications to create extra spaces at the centre as part of its plans for "large-scale expansion" of Britain's detention estate, but the plans were shelved due to lack of funds.[8]

2009 inspections and hunger strike

In 2009, Medical Justice reported a woman who had fled a West African country after being repeatedly raped and tortured by soldiers had her asylum claim refused and was detained on Fast Track at Yarl's Wood for three and a half months. Despite serious health problems, she was denied treatment and was not seen by a gynaecologist nor screened for sexually transmitted infections. She eventually developed severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder and was placed on suicide watch for several weeks after harming herself, yet failed attempts were made to deport her. She was only released after she was seen by a doctor working with Medical Justice.[9] In another case, a medico-legal report prepared by medical experts who noted that the medical evidence "gives strong support for the history of repeated rapes leading to life threatening gynaecological complications necessitating major surgery" was dismissed by the immigration judge, who apparently said the injuries "could have been caused by other means," without finding it necessary to investigate what these 'other means' could have been.[10]

In 2009, HM Inspector of Prisons found that the understanding and management of self-harm at Yarl's Wood was often superficial, with security taking precedence over health: "Many women were extremely anxious about their future, and the quality of support procedures for those at risk of self-harm was not consistently good, though there was some caring individual work. There had been no assessment of adult mental health needs."[11] Previous inspection reports, for example one in February 2006, had made similar criticisms about the centre.

In its 2009 annual report, the Yarl's Wood Independent Monitoring Board reported a 26% increase in the recorded instances of use of force at the centre (48 cases, compared with 38 in 2008).[12] This was apparently "owing to a change in the recording process, to include occasions where an officer uses force to prevent self-harm," implying that many incidents may not have been reported in the past. In one of the cases viewed, the IMB member considered the force used to have been "excessive." The board also reported one case where a tape was "wiped" before the IMB member could see it. In November 2009, the Chief Inspector of Prisons reported that, on two occasions in the previous year, force had been used on children. The inspectors were "assured" that these events were "exceptional" and "properly authorised and planned."[13]

Independent Monitoring Boards across the detention estate have repeatedly expressed their "extreme concern" about restrictions on their access to detainees' complaints. In March 2009, the UKBA's Detention Services finally agreed to produce a monthly report to each IMB, setting out brief details of complaints received from detainees. The reports gave the name of the detainee, a brief indication of the subject-matter of the complaint and its destination. Whilst this was described as "helpful," the IMB's Forum of Chairs did not consider that "it was adequate to enable IMBs to properly monitor the just and humane treatment of detainees, which must include how their complaints are dealt with."[14] For example, the reports would not indicate whether the same officer had been involved in more than one incident of alleged mistreatment.

Yarl's Wood's monthly reports to the IMB during 2009 were described as "at best sporadic." Moreover, since December 2008, complaints to the UKBA's Professional Standards Unit (PSU), which IMBs were "most concerned to know about," were not made available to them.[15] In November 2009, an agreement was reached with the UKBA for copies of detainees' complaints to be emailed to the IMB chair at the centre via a secure system. Again, while this "restoration of access" to complaints was welcomed by the IMB, it was criticised for being "not complete." For example, where a detainee was moved from the detention centre, it was not possible for the IMB at any subsequent centre to follow up an earlier complaint.[16] This is particularly important in light of claims that one of the tactics used by the immigration authorities and their contractors to 'deal with problems' is to move 'trouble-causing' detainees around the detention estate. There is also evidence that detainees lodging complaints are subjected to harassment and further abuse, which may deter other from complaining in the future.[17]

A hunger strike in June 2009 was accompanied by accounts of violent assaults on detainees by Serco guards. Men and women were reportedly beaten up and one woman had her clothes ripped off by guards while being filmed. Detainees reported that many of them were "severely traumatised." One woman told supporters on the phone that the level of brutality was "unbelievable" and she had "never seen anything like it before." [18]

2010 hunger strike

On 8th February 2010, three days into a mass hunger strike by Yarl's Wood detainees demanding an end to indefinite imprisonment and abuse, both grassroots and mainstream media reported that Serco security guards, some with riot shields, had attempted to break up the protest by using excessive force against women detainees.[19] A series of audio interviews with the hunger strikers described how 70 women were locked in a corridor for 6 hours without access to food, water, toilet or medical care.[20] Many collapsed and about 20, who apparently climbed out of a window, were reportedly beaten up by the guards and taken into isolation cells. An image taken on a mobile phone and passed on to the media showed extensive bruising to one woman's shoulder and legs. Another women reported she had a window slammed on her hand by guards. Detainees also claimed that they were racially abused, with guards calling them "black monkeys" and such like. An ambulance called by the detainees was apparently not allowed in as the centre's management claimed that paramedics were "not required because the most significant injury was [a] fingernail injury." Members of the centre's Independent Monitoring Board and Bedfordshire police are said to have been present during the assaults but no action was taken.[21]

"The security went outside and used shields like they do when there is a war. That is what they used to smash one of the women who was outside." - Yarl's Wood detainee during the February 2010 hunger strike, The Observer, 28 February 2010

Four of the women, who were singled out as 'ringleaders' or 'key organisers' of the protest, were put in isolation for four weeks, then moved to HM Holloway Prison, where three of them were held for over a year without charge or trial.[22] The women also say they were denied adequate medical treatment for the injuries they sustained from assaults during the hunger strike. One of them, Denise McNeil, who had spoken to the media[23] about the hunger strike and the guards' use of violence, believes the subsequent assaults on her and moving her to prison were "to silence protesters."[24]

After each of these disturbances, campaigners and sympathetic MPs demanded an inquiry into the events. Judging by previous experiences, however, official inquiries into detention-related do not appear to get anywhere. In fact, the Home Office and Serco deny that there was even a protest in Yarl's Wood in February 2010. Their preferred course of action was to write to MPs and the media, through the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office Meg Hillier MP, denying that there had been a hunger strike and claiming that campaigners' reports were "inaccurate and fabricated."[25] Solicitors and detainee support groups, such as Black Women's Rape Action Project, have collected witness statements from over 50 of the women involved in the hunger strike and found their claims of racist abuse, physical and other violence to be "entirely consistent."[26]

Stories of daily 'routine abuse' of Yarls' Wood detainees continue to emerge. On 6th December 2010, for instance, a woman reported that she was "physically assaulted and verbally abused" by two male and one female Serco guards during one of their routine monthly searches of inmates' rooms. A male officer, she claimed, called her an "illegal immigrant" and "a prostitute," breaching her confidentiality by revealing aspects of her asylum claim to other women and officers present. The manager then arrived and, instead of asking what had happened, he allegedly bent both her hands back and pressed her against the wall, pulling out some of her hair. The woman was then taken into isolation, where she said she was denied food and kept in a cold room for two days. She called the police but these apparently did nothing as there was "no blood."[27] Other women said they were reluctant to go public about the abuse they claim they suffered as they feared retribution, but some have spoken out after being released.[28]

2011 guard suspended

In January a Serco officer was suspended and investigated, reportedly over allegations that he had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a women detained at Yarl's Wood who became pregnant.

2012 Movement for Justice group inside

In September, several women detained at Yarl’s Wood organised themselves into a “Movement for Justice Group” and issued a significant statement, which included 8 demands:

“Led by a group of lesbian women in detention, the Yarls Wood Movement for Justice group has now grown to include many more women both lesbian and straight; all are determined to fight for their freedom and the freedom of all women in detention; an end to the racist and abusive system of detaining people who have committed no crime other than seek a life free from torture, persecution, abuse and poverty and the freedom to study, live, work and be exactly who they are.

Together the Yarls Wood Movement for Justice Group has voted on a set of demands for immediate improvement in the conditions of detention (cleaning work that only pays 50p an hour, blocks on the internet and lack of printing facilities) and the overarching goal of freedom for all and an end to detention.

1. Respect for our human rights – Release us now 2. No more Fast Track 3. Unblock the internet & allow internet access to our petition link and printing of petition materials 4. Pay us at least the minimum wage for the work we do in detention 5. No more copy & paste of case decisions – we need fair trial 6. No more charter flights 7. End deportation – End detention 8. We need freedom – legal status for us all in the UK

The entire immigration system is racist, homophobic, sexist and rotten to the core. The collective organisation of detainees in detention combined with a militant and determined fight in all of our communities across the UK can be the death knell of this poisonous system that has robbed from us so many of our sisters, brothers, neigbour’s, cousins, fathers, mothers, workmates and friends. This pernicious effect has been highlighted dramatically with the threatened deportation of almost 3000 students from London Met University – the time to fight is now; student and non student, detained and not detained, citizen and non-citizen, International student and UK student – we must stand together for a new Britain, a better Britain: diverse, multiracial, integrated and equal”.

2013 Observer exposé of sexual abuse

Throughout 2013, the Observer published reports of sexual abuse by Serco guards against female detainees at Yarl's Wood. Police launched an investigation after the Observer reported that a 23-year-old Roma woman, referred to as "Tanya", had sexual contact with three male guards, and that attempts were made to deport her days after she informed management. Some of the abuse reportedly took place in a room on Avocet wing without CCTV and with curtains covering the windows.

2014 death, UN barred, whistleblower, contract renewed

On 31 March, Jamaican Christine Case, 40, died inside Yarl's Wood from a massive pulmonary thrombo-embolism. Case had spent ten days in detention. Following her death, detainees held a sit-down protest and refused to comply with officers. Hundred of mourners attended Case's funeral in Tottenham.

In April, Rashida Manjoo, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women, was barred from visiting Yarl's Wood. Manjoo was in Britain to conduct an inquiry for the UN into violence against women. She compared the fiasco to when authorities in Bangladesh prevented her from visiting a notorious refugee camp and India blocked her visiting its detention sites. Majoo questioned whether Britain had “something to hide”.

In June, Noel Finn, a former mental health nurse at Yarl's Wood, blew the whistle on conditions inside. Finn worked there from 2012 to 2013. One woman who he had flagged as being at risk later burnt herself with scalding water, but staff did not treat her injury for 16 hours. He said there was "a toxic culture, where guards would flirt and be inappropriate". He slammed the provision of mental health care at Yarl's Wood.

In November, despite the mounting controversy around Yarl's Wood, Serco was awarded a new contract, worth £70 million, to run the centre for a further eight years. The healthcare unit was taken over by G4S - the successor to Group 4, which was in charge of Yarl's Wood before Serco and when half the centre burnt down.

2015 Channel 4 undercover, death, inspection report

<youtube size="medium" align="right" caption="Channel 4 News undercover investigation of Yarl's Wood">EkyvmvIn5HA</youtube>In March, Channel 4 News broadcast secret filming from an undercover reporter showing conditions inside Yarl's Wood. Guards referred to the detainees as ‘animals’, ‘beasties’ and ‘bi****s’. The footage raised concerns about healthcare, self-harm and the detention of pregnant women. Two guards were suspended over allegations of mistreatment and further investigations were ordered by the Home Office and Serco.

On 20 April, a 34 year old Indian man Pinakin Patel died at Yarl's Wood from a heart attack. He was detained in the family unit with his wife. Detainees went on hunger strike calling for the release of Mr Patel's widow, Bhavisha Ben Patel. She said the couple had to wait 15 minutes for health care staff to attend after he suffered from shortness of breath on the morning he died. They had been detained at Yarl's Wood for over two months since coming to the UK on holiday.

An inquest into Patel's death heard how there had been delays reporting his collapse to emergency services and the ambulance was delayed at the detention centre's gates. Senior coroner Tom Osborne found Patel had died from natural causes. However, he found that prevention of future deaths recommendations made after the Christine Case inquest had not been implemented.

In August, the chief inspector of prisons published a report which said Yarl's Wood was "a place of national concern". The report found that conditions had deteriorated and that Yarl's Wood was failing vulnerable women. Particular criticism was made of the healthcare facilities, run by G4S.

Wings

Yarl's Wood consists of four units in a large, two-storey building. Until the detention of families was stopped in late 2010, there was a family unit (Crane), with a capacity of 121; a single women induction and first night unit (Bunting), with 42 beds; and two single women units (Avocet and Dove), with a capacity of 130 and 112 respectively. All Crane rooms, except one, are twin-bedded and interconnected in pairs to allow families to be located together. All Avocet and Dove rooms are twin-bedded, except for two single rooms in Avocet with some adaptations for people with disabilities. Most Bunting rooms, except three, are single. All rooms have simple en-suite toilet and shower facilities. The four units are connected by a central corridor, from which all ancillary areas, including the healthcare centre, can be accessed.

Detainees in Temporary Confinement (TC) under Detention Centre Rule 42 are held in the Kingfisher Separation Unit, in solitary cells called Removal From Association (RFA) rooms. Rooms in Bunting are also sometimes used for this purpose. During 2009, the Bunting RFA rooms were apparently converted into a 'family care suite'. During the second part of 2009, a new school building was constructed outside the main compound, formally opening in November that year. There is a Healthcare Centre on site, which provides primary healthcare for detainees, but is not always adequately staffed. Secondary care is referred - at least in theory - to the local Primary Care Trust.

Notes

[1] Stephen Shaw (Prisons and Probation Ombudsman), Report of the inquiry into the disturbance and fire at Yarl’s Wood Removal Centre, October 2004. http://www.ppo.gov.uk/docs/special-yarls-wood-fire-02.pdf.

[2] Prisons and Probation Ombudsman for England and Wales, Investigation into Allegations of Racism, Abuse and Violence at Yarl’s Wood Removal Centre, March 2004. p.3. http://www.ppo.gov.uk/docs/special-yarls-wood-abuse-03.pdf.

[3] HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Inquiry into the quality of healthcare at Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, 20 – 24 February 2006. p.5. http://www.justice.gov.uk/inspectorates/hmi-prisons/docs/yarls_wood_inquiry_final-rps.pdf.

[4] Legal Action for Women, A 'Bleak House' in Our Times: An investigation into Yarl's Wood Removal Centre, Crossroads, December 2005.

[5] Women Against Rape, 'Landmark damages for rape survivor detained unlawfully', n.d. http://www.womenagainstrape.net/media/landmark-damages-rape-survivor-detained-unlawfully.

[6] Serco, 'Serco to run Yarl's Wood immigration centre', http://www.serco.com/markets/homeaffairs/Copy_3_of_lowgrangerep.asp.

[7] Home Office, Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre, http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/organisation/immigrationremovalcentres/yarlswood.

[8] 'Yarl's Wood expansion put on hold', Bedford Today, 28 January 2010. http://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/news/biggleswade-news/yarl_s_wood_expansion_put_on_hold_the_full_story_1_1099759.

[9] Medical Justice, 'Rape and torture survivor severely neglected by Yarl’s Wood healthcare', n.d. http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/267/50/ .

[10] Medical Justice, 'Medico-Legal Reports dismissed by immigration judges', n.d. http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/16/50/ .

[11] HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, 2009, p.5.

[12] Independent Monitoring Board, Annual Report 2009. p.12.

[13] HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, 2009. p.6.

[14] Independent Monitoring Board, 2009. p.18.

[15] ibid.

[16] ibid.

[17] See, for example, Birnberg Peirce & Partners, Medical Justice and the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns, Outsourcing Abuse: The use and misuse of state-sanctioned force during the detention and removal of asylum seekers, 2008, http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/images/stories/reports/outsourcing%20abuse.pdf, p.16; Corporate Watch, 'Missed Appointments: The Nigerian prince and the UK failed immigration system', 5 May 2010, http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=3596, especially the section on 'Retaliation?'.

[18] No Borders Brighton, 'Yarl's Wood Hunger Strikers Attacked', Indymedia UK, 17 June 2009, http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/06/432528.html.

[19] See, for example, http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/02/446439.html and http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/08/hunger-strike-women-detention-yarls-wood-protest.

[20] VionioOnTV, 'Voices from Yarl's Wood', http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xch4gx_voices-from-yarl-s-wood-update-2_news.

[21] Mark Townsend, 'Immigration bosses to be quizzed after asylum seekers were 'beaten' by guards', The Observer, 28 February 2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/28/yarls-wood-assaults; Karen McVeigh, 'Asylum seekers win new strength to fight after Yarl's Wood hunger strike', The Guardian, 2 August 2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/aug/02/yarls-wood-hunger-strike-asylum.

[22] NCADC, 'Free Denise McNeil', http://www.ncadc.org.uk/campaigns/DeniseMcNeil.html.

[23] 'Yarlswood: 'One girl tied a rope around her neck and tried to hang herself', The Guardian, 13 February 2010. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/audio/2010/feb/13/yarlswood.

[24] Mark Townsend, 'Yarl's Wood mother jailed without charge for a year to 'silence' her', The Observer, Sunday 16 January 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/16/denise-mcneil-yarls-wood.

[25] Women Against Rape, 'UPDATE: 34 women still on hunger strike in Yarl’s Wood', 26 February 2010, http://www.womenagainstrape.net/content/action-women-3rd-week-hunger-strike-yarls-wood-irc.

[26] Women Against Rape, 'Report: Women's Hunger Strike - Louder than Words ', 29 June 2010, http://www.womenagainstrape.net/content/report-womens-hunger-strike-louder-words.

[27] Black Women's Rape Project, 'SERCO officers in Yarl's Wood IRC: Violent, racist, sexist & vindictive', Minority Perspective, 10 December 2010. http://www.minorityperspective.co.uk/2010/12/10/serco-officers-in-yarl%E2%80%99s-wood-irc-violent-racist-sexist-vindictive/.

[28] Women Against Rape, 'Women speak out in Parliament against detention, deportation, privatisation and profiteering', 14 January 2010, http://www.womenagainstrape.net/content/women-speak-out-parliament-against-detention-depor.