UK Must Drastically Reduce Use of Detention, Says Shaw Immigration Report
Categories: Articles:Asylum & Refugees |
Published: 15/01/2016 |
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An independent review into the welfare of immigration detainees commissioned by the home secretary has called for ministers to reduce “boldly and without delay” the 30,000 people detained each year. The report by Stephen Shaw, the former prisons and probation ombudsman, calls for a complete ban on the detention of pregnant women in immigration centres such as Yarl’s Wood. He says there should also be a “presumption against detention” of victims of rape and sexual violence, people with learning difficulties, and those with post-traumatic stress disorder.
The six-month review was commissioned by the home secretary, Theresa May, after years of criticism about the treatment of immigration detainees including incidents of deaths, self-harm and sexual abuse in Britain’s 10 immigration removal centres. May tried to exclude any consideration of introducing a statutory time limit on the use of immigration detention, but Shaw makes clear his belief that the numbers should be reduced “both for reasons of welfare and to deliver better use of public money”.
Alan Travis, Guardian, 14/01/2016
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