Gatwick detention centre 'unacceptable' for women
27.08.08
Conditions have become ‘unacceptable’ for a small number of women at a Gatwick Airport immigration removal centre, the Chief Inspector of Prisons has said. In a report released today on Tinsley House, on the airport, Anne Owers said that some single women at the facility were ‘marginalised and almost forgotten’. She also raised concerns about children, saying their detention for ‘days or even weeks was damaging’. The UK Border Agency (UKBA) has said that it is drawing up an action plan based on the report.
Inspectors said Tinsley House provided a ‘largely safe and respectful environment’ for the male majority of the population. But they found there were ‘no care plans’ for children detained beyond 7 days, and some staff lacked child protection training. Inspectors also said there were ‘very few single women’, and that these women were forced to share facilities in a mainly male establishment which could be ‘embarrassing and intimidating’. The report said the issue ‘urgently needed to be addressed’.
The report follows a full announced inspection of the centre in February.
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