Review and reduce cell lock-in periods
Brook House Inquiry · The Brook House Inquiry Report · Issued 19 September 2023 · Addressed to: Home Office
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
The Home Office, in consultation with the contractor responsible for operating each immigration removal centre, must review the current lock-in regime and determine whether the period of time during which detained people are locked in their cells could be reduced. The Inquiry does not consider cost alone to be a sufficient justification for extensive lock-in periods.
Brook House Inquiry, The Brook House Inquiry Report · 19 Sep 2023 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- In November 2024, the Home Office published a new Detention Services Order on the Management and Security of Night State, setting a maximum 9-hour overnight lock-in period across the immigration removal centre estate, with version 2.0 superseding the December 2018 original (Detention Services Order: Management and Security of Night State, Home Office, November 2024).
How was this evidence gathered?
Response — verbatim from government
●Home Office
A maximum 9-hour overnight lock-in period has been implemented. The government has also noted a drive to improve the range of activities available to detainees.
Home Office · 19 Mar 2024 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 14 Jan 2025 Angela Eagle, Written PQ 23170 (15 January 2025): 'Completed and closed as of October 2024.' Source →
- 3 Sep 2025 · HM Inspectorate of Prisons Rolling refurbishment of units and upgraded library described as "relaxed and welcoming space". However, cells remain inadequately ventilated with sealed windows. View source → Mixed Findings
- 19 Sep 2024 · Brook House Inquiry Chair Inquiry Chair Kate Eves described government response as "inadequate" and called for a "reset" with the new government. Warned abuse "becomes a question of when, not if" it happens again. Insufficient Progress
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.