A cross party-group of MPs has called for an end to the indefinite detention of migrants, warning that too many people are being unnecessarily detained, sometimes for as long as four years, under a system they characterise as “expensive, ineffective and unjust”.

Migrants and asylum seekers should be detained for no longer than 28 days, and only then as an “absolute last resort”, the all-party parliamentary group into the use of immigration detention concluded. In a damning critique of Home Office policy, the panel said that the current lack of a time limit had “significant mental health costs for detainees, as well as considerable financial costs to the taxpayer”.

Members of the panel said they were shocked by some of the testimonies they heard from current and former detainees, some of whom had been held for years, without being told when they were likely to be released. They concluded that current Home Office policy puts the health of detainees at “serious risk”. The UK is the only country in the European Union not to have an upper time limit on detention.

The report described the conditions in which migrants and asylum seekers are held as “tantamount to high security prison settings”. The panel concluded that the “enforcement-focused” culture of the Home Office means that official guidance, which states that detention should be used sparingly and for the shortest possible time, is not being followed, resulting in “too many instances of unnecessary detention”.

The inquiry, which was launched following a number of scandals over conditions within immigration removal centres, took the highly unusual step of taking calls from current detainees, who were put on speakerphone so that committee members in Westminster could hear them describe conditions inside some of the UK’s detention centres. Some of their testimonies made MPs gasp with horror – among them accounts of suicide attempts, being handcuffed for hospital treatment, and of women detainees being sexually harassed by guards.

The Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather, who chaired the inquiry, said: “We detain a lot of people, some for a very long time, all with huge uncertainty, and we have very limited processes for individuals to challenge that detention. We believe the problems that beset our immigration detention estate occur quite simply because we detain for too many people unnecessarily and for far too long.”

The panel’s recommendations are particularly significant because they represent a cross-party perspective on the politicised theme of migration. David Burrowes, Conservative MP and panel member, said: “While there is a need to properly control our borders, people who arrive by fair means or foul must also be treated with dignity and respect throughout the immigration process.

“The current system is failing to sufficiently do this and our report calls for an urgent rethink … Immigration is on the political agenda, but rarely do we unite on a cross-party basis and consider the issue of immigration detention. The lack of a time limit is resulting in people being locked up for months and, in some cases, several years, purely for administrative reasons.”

At the end of 2014, there were 3,462 people in immigration detention centres, 24% higher than at the end of 2013; 397 had been detained for more than 6 months, 108 for longer than a year, and 18 for longer than two years. During 2014, 30,365 entered detention, an increase of 17% since 2010.

The panel expressed concern that individuals detained under immigration powers were “increasingly being held in prison-like conditions”. The biggest immigration removal centres are either converted high-security prisons or have been built to that specification. Detainees should be held in “suitable accommodation that is conducive to an open and relaxed regime”, the report suggests. The panel concluded that “depriving an individual of their liberty for the purposes of immigration detention should be an absolute last resort and only used to effect removal”.



They heard by telephone from a 28-year-old identified only as C, who was trafficked at the age of 16, beaten, raped and tortured en route to the UK, where after some time he was arrested for trying to use a false passport. He told the panel he had been detained for nearly three years. Officials have tried to remove him eight times, but because he comes from a disputed area between Nigeria and Cameroon, his current nationality remains unclear and he has no proof of identity. He has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder by two doctors, one of whom has written to the Home Office stating that his condition is deteriorating and that he should not be kept in detention.

He is on high doses of antidepressants and told the panel: “Because of the long-time detention and conditions … I don’t really come out of my room because the noise around it makes me think I’m going to go mad.” He said he is on suicide watch. “I tried to use a sheet, my bedding, to stop my breathing.”

The recommendations require a “radical shift in current thinking. They go much further than putting a time limit on detention. They are about a wholesale change in culture,” Teather said. “The UK is an outlier in not having a time limit on detention. During the inquiry, we heard about the huge uncertainty this causes people to live with, not knowing if tomorrow they will be released, removed from the country, or continue being in detention.”

The committee also recommended that:

• pregnant women should never be detained for immigration purposes.

• individuals with a mental health condition should only be detained under very exceptional circumstances.

• screening processes should be improved to ensure that victims of trafficking are not detained.

• women who are victims of rape and sexual violence should not be detained.

• the UK government should look at alternatives to detention, including allowing individuals to live in the community while their cases are considered.

The panel brought together MPs and law lords from across the spectrum, from former Conservative cabinet minister Caroline Spelman to Labour’s Paul Blomfield, as well as the former chief inspector of prisons, Lord Ramsbotham. “What is unusual about the panel is that it brings together people who do not agree on all aspects of reform of the immigration system – some are more hawkish, some are more liberal – but we are united in thinking that the current system is ineffective and inhumane,” Teather said.

The report came as a three-month undercover investigation by Channel 4 news revealed serious instances of sexism and racism among Serco staff running the Yarl’s Wood immigration centre. Guards at the centre were filmed describing various detainees as “black bitch” and “evil”.

At one point a guard was filmed commenting: “They are all slashing their wrists, apparently. Let them slash their wrists ... It’s attention seeking.” James Thorburn, managing director of Serco’s home affairs business, said he had not seen the footage, but added: “I would be shocked and angry if anybody we employ was talking about people in our care in a disrespectful or obnoxious manner. We will not tolerate poor conduct or disrespect and will take disciplinary action wherever appropriate.”

Refugee Council chief executive Maurice Wren welcomed the report, saying: “Today a bright light has been shone into the darkest corners of the British immigration system and it has revealed some unpleasant secrets. In the current system, asylum seekers who have done nothing wrong find themselves arbitrarily placed behind bars, on the say-so of Home Office civil servants, for one primary reason: because it’s politically expedient.”

Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: “The scandal of limitless detention, unashamedly for administrative convenience, is one of the greatest stains on the UK’s human rights record in recent decades – a colossal and pointless waste of both public funds and human life. We welcome this cross-party report’s recommendation that a statutory time limit must be introduced. Now let’s hope the next government has the courage to act.”