All Articles: Detention

Al Chodor and Others (C-528/15) In a highly significant judgment the CJEU has shown, in effect, that the Home Office has unlawfully detained hundreds or even thousands of individuals seeking international protection. Page contentsThe background factsThe question for the CourtThe legal frameworkThe judgmentWhat kind of national law?The old positionThe UK Government’s...

23rd March 2017
BY Thomas Beamont

There is supposed to be a fundamental difference between custodial incarceration and immigration detention. The former is reserved for those who have committed crimes: its purpose is punitive, to protect the public and to rehabilitate offenders. The latter, however, is meant to be administrative: a stepping stone for those who...

22nd March 2017
BY nicknason

The High Court has ruled in the case of R (On the Applications Of TN (Vietnam) & US (Pakistan)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department & Anor [2017] EWHC 59 (Admin) that over 10,000 asylum appeals had been decided under procedure rules so unfair that the determinations could be...

23rd January 2017
BY Colin Yeo

Free Movement has reported twice on immigration removal centres (IRCs) blocking access to websites informing detainees of their legal rights. HM Chief Inspector of Prisons criticised Haslar IRC two years ago for having the websites of Bail for Immigration Detainees and Amnesty International blocked. What are "prohibited categories" of websites in...

13th December 2016
BY Paul Erdunast

Very useful update from my colleague Shu Shin Luh: R (Hossain and Ors) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] EWHC 1331 (Admin) Mr Justice Cranston this week handed down judgment in Hossain & others v SSHD, the test case (with four representative claimants) on the lawfulness of the...

10th June 2016
BY Colin Yeo

Gedi, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for Home Department [2016] EWCA Civ 409 (17 May 2016) is a case where the Home Office took it into their own hands to impose curfew restrictions over and above bail conditions those imposed by the First Tier Tribunal, as well...

6th June 2016
BY Chris McWatters

In the first judgment of its kind since the suspension of the Detained Fast Track on 2 July 2015, the High Court struck down the Home Secretary’s refusal and certification of an asylum claim which was made in the structurally unfair and unjust Detained Fast Track (DFT) and ordered the...

25th May 2016
BY Shu Shin Luh

What were Harmondsworth and Colnbrook Detention Centres have been brought under the same management, and are now called Heathrow Immigration Removal Centres. Nonetheless, as the Independent Monitoring Board’s report shows, detention centres by another name still have their same old problems. The Board’s recommendations focus on treatment of vulnerable people,...

23rd May 2016
BY Free Movement

A new Detention Services Order 04/2016 about internet access for detainees has just been published. This is the first time the Home Office has set central guidelines on internet access for immigration detainees. The Order makes clear that all detainee internet usage is monitored and centrally recorded. The Order states that detainees...

17th May 2016
BY Colin Yeo

A new Detention Services Order, DSO 03/2016, has been issued by the Home Office. The name is innocuous — Considering detainee placement — but we can hope that it will have a significant impact because what it really requires is a proper risk assessment before a person is accepted into...

9th May 2016
BY Colin Yeo

The High Court has awarded damages of just £3,750 to an Algerian man for a period of five months of unlawful detention. This was just the latest period of immigration detention for Mr Sino, though, who has been detained for a cumulative total of seven years and two months. Mr...

4th May 2016
BY Colin Yeo

As if Michael Gove MP needed further reminding, in wake of Colin Yeo’s appearance on World at One on Wednesday where he pointed out the fundamental error of the Justice Secretary’s assertion that Britain cannot deport EEA nationals with a criminal record, the Supreme Court in R (on the application...

25th April 2016
BY Chris McWatters

A High Court judge has awarded the family member of an EU national a total of £136,048 in damages. The award consists of £76,578 for false imprisonment and £59,470 for breach of EU law. The Home Office is also criticised for having made “inaccurate and misleading” submissions to previous judges...

30th March 2016
BY Colin Yeo

UPDATE: overturned by the Court of Appeal in R (On the Application Of Raza) (Pakistan) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] EWCA Civ 807. R (on the application of Raza) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Bail – conditions – variation – Article 9 ECHR)...

14th March 2016
BY Colin Yeo

The High Court has in the case of R (On the Application Of Mohammed) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] EWHC 447 (Admin) ordered the release of a Somali national with a number of very serious convictions on the basis that there was no prospect of his...

9th March 2016
BY Colin Yeo

An unannounced inspection of short term detention facilities for refugees and migrants crossing the Channel into the UK has revealed that hundreds, including many children, have been held in “wholly unacceptable” and insanitary conditions. Many were held in a disused freight shed and forced to sleep on concrete floors, with no...

8th March 2016
BY Colin Yeo

The new HM Chief Inspector of Prisons is not holding his punches. Peter Clarke’s first report is on the Harmondsworth detention camp used for short and long term detention of migrants near Heathrow airport. In an unannounced inspection his team found “appalling” and “desolate” conditions for detainees. You can access...

1st March 2016
BY Colin Yeo

In the case of R (on the application of Babbage) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] EWHC 148 (Admin) Mr Justice Garnham ordered the release of a detained Zimbabwean foreign criminal. In the process, he was corruscating critical of the conduct of Government lawyers acting for the Secretary of...

3rd February 2016
BY Colin Yeo

The review by Stephen Shaw into the welfare in immigration detention of vulnerable persons has been published today. The Government has responded stating that it “accepts the broad thrust of his recommendations” and that the Home Office expects its reforms to reduce the number of those detained and the duration of detention before...

14th January 2016
BY Colin Yeo

The Court of Appeal says “yes”, it is generally lawful to detain immigration detainees in prisons rather than detention centres. The case is R (On the Application Of Idira) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWCA Civ 1187 and the Court rules that there is no principle...

24th November 2015
BY Colin Yeo

The case of Home Office v VS [2015] EWCA Civ 1142 discloses continued concerns about Home Office treatment of refugee children and sets clear guidelines on limits of power to detain children. The child was represented in the Court of Appeal by Stephanie Harrison QC and Shu Shin Luh of Garden Court Chambers, instructed...

6th November 2015
BY Colin Yeo

Dover Immigration Removal Centre has served as home to many of its inhabitants for months or even years. It has received damning reports due to its prison-like conditions and long periods of detention. On 15th October the Home Office finally announced that it would shut. This announcement came without reasons...

23rd October 2015
BY Paul Erdunast

The Guardian is carrying a story that the Home Office has settled an unlawful detention claim by a pregnant asylum seeker detained at Yarl’s Wood and has said it will review its policy. The level of compensation is not disclosed. Detention policy is supposedly that pregnant asylum seekers will not...

6th October 2015
BY Colin Yeo

Yesterday The Verne Immigration Removal Centre was criticised by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons for its “prison-like” regime and high levels of violence and today HMCIP described Yarl’s Wood as an issue “of national concern”. These are damning inspection reports and the Government’s only response is to express “disappointment” and point to...

12th August 2015
BY Colin Yeo

In a judgment handed down this morning, the Court of Appeal has agreed with Nichol J’s earlier judgment in the High Court holding the Detained Fast Track appeal system to be inherently unfair. The new judgment is The Lord Chancellor v Detention Action [2015] EWCA Civ 840. The Home Office were...

29th July 2015
BY Colin Yeo

The detained fast track appeals system was last Friday held to be unlawful in the High Court. The is available here: Detention Action v First-Tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) & Ors [2015] EWHC 1689 (Admin). The Home Office will appeal the judgment, which is in the meantime stayed. This means that fast...

12th June 2015
BY Colin Yeo

In a short but powerful judgment the Court of Appeal has clarified the approach to continued detention on the basis that removal can be effected within a reasonable time. The decision is also important for the analysis of case law concerning detention where the prospects of effecting return depend upon...

10th April 2015
BY James Packer

In the case of Xue v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWHC 825 (Admin) the Home Office claimed that the court had no “superhero” jurisdiction and could not or should interfere with the right of the Secretary of State indefinitely to detain a foreign national. Happily for the...

2nd April 2015
BY Colin Yeo

In Detention Action v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2014] EWHC 2245, Ouseley J considered a challenge to the lawfulness of the policy and practice applied by the Secretary of State in the operation of the detained fast track and concluded that it ‘carries with it too high...

15th July 2014
BY Bijan Hoshi

The latest unannounced official HMIP report on Haslar immigration detention centre reveals that the centre staff had blocked the websites for Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID) and Amnesty International: Detainees had access to the internet, but some key websites were blocked. The officer on duty in the internet suite could unblock...

9th July 2014
BY Colin Yeo

HM Chief Inspector of Prisons report on an unannounced inspection of Dover Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) between 3–14 March 2014 (published 7 July 2014) once again highlights critical concerns surrounding Rule 35 of the Detention Centre Rules 2001. Dover IRC is generally commended, although its atmosphere appears to remain that...

8th July 2014
BY David Rhys Jones

UNHCR has identified a number of countries to work with initially to revisit detention practices and to strengthen alternatives to detention, including Hungary, Indonesia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Thailand, UK and Zambia. Source

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3rd July 2014
BY Colin Yeo

If the use of detention for warehousing persons liable to deportation or removal has become a serious problem, it is in part because of repeated failures by the Home Office to limit the exercise of powers given to it by Parliament to the purpose for which they are intended. Source

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3rd June 2014
BY Colin Yeo

Alois Dvorzac died in handcuffs in immigration detention in 2013. He was 84 years old, suffered from Alzheimers and he had been handcuffed for five hours by the time he died. It was a miserable, ignominious end to what Channel 4 has shown us was a rich and varied life. Yesterday...

31st March 2014
BY Colin Yeo

The Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration has just published a damning report looking at the removals process at the Home Office. That the Home Office is not effective in conducting removals is hardly news to those of us who work in immigration law but even I was surprised by...

26th March 2014
BY Colin Yeo

Which all leads us to the following devastating question: how did this life, so full of historical resonance, affection and adventure, end up extinguished, in handcuffs, in a British asylum detention centre? Great journalism but very upsetting piece. The Home Office attempt to blame the security contractors is particularly repugnant.

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18th March 2014
BY Colin Yeo

We suggest that if the sureties were aware of x’s illegal status in the UK, they have been complicit in assisting him in defying UK immigration law, and are therefore unsuitable in ensuring he comply with the conditions of bail. Alternatively, if these sureties were unaware of x’s illegal status...

18th March 2014
BY Colin Yeo

A new official report on Monitoring Places of Detention by an independent governmental monitoring body raises serious concerns about the immigration enforcement process. The private security contractors responsible are criticised for disproportionate use of force and restraint, unprofessional behaviour and use of ‘very offensive language’ in front of immigration detainees and...

14th March 2014
BY Colin Yeo

A Parliamentary written answer yesterday revealed that of the Syrians that managed to get to the UK to claim asylum in 2013, 24 were forcibly removed and a further 20 remain in immigration detention today. That seems to me truly shocking. It certainly gives lie to the UK Government’s hollow...

5th March 2014
BY Colin Yeo

A new report from Women For Refugee Women (‘WFRW’) sheds a sickening light on the conditions for women asylum seekers detained in Yarl’s Wood IRC. 70 per cent of the women they interviewed that were guarded by men said that the very presence of male staff made them feel uncomfortable....

3rd February 2014
BY Jo Wilding
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