Immigration centre detainees were mistreated in ‘prison-like’ conditions where staff were quick to use force and made dehumanising comments, inquiry finds [Video]

09:53 EDT 19 Sep 2023 , updated 10:46 EDT 19 Sep 2023

Immigration centre detainees were mistreated in ‘prison-like’ conditions where staff made dehumanising comments and were quick to use force, a damning inquiry has found.

Brook House immigration removal centre (IRC) was ‘not sufficiently decent, secure or caring for detained people or its staff’, a report into abuse suffered at the ‘toxic’ institution in 2017 concluded.

A total of 19 incidents of mistreatment took place at the detention centre near Gatwick Airport in West Sussex between April and August that year, inquiry chairwoman Kate Eves said.

She claimed an ‘environment flourished’, where ‘unacceptable treatment’ became more likely as part of a ‘toxic culture’ at the site, run by security firm G4S. 

Migrants lived in dirty, harmful conditions, suffered from mental health problems and were mistreated, including one incident where a man had pressure applied to his neck by a staff member when he was in distress.

In that incident, a detention …