Safety
Repeated
The implementation of the adults-at-risk policy may not always adequately identify and protect particularly vulnerable detainees, and in particular the manner in which the Rule 35 procedure and decision making was functioning.
Complaints/Property
Repeated
HOIE Rule 35 notification responses are not always tailored to the individuals to whom they relate and are not genuinely meaningful, often using formulaic reasons.
Safety
Policy of allowing room sharing at Tinsley House STHF by multiples of detainees during the currency of the pandemic, simply because they may have spent time together in small boats or on coaches en route to the centre.
Safety
Current policy of not Covid-19 testing detainees on arrival at Tinsley House STHF, or thereafter during their period of detention.
Safety
Lack of a stringent policy of compulsory facemask wearing and a persistent approach to social distancing by detainees and staff around the centre at the STHF.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Repeated
Ensuring the Tinsley House safer community meetings are relevant and attractive for detainees; adults-at-risk meetings allow time for specific issues; and diversity and race relations meetings adopt a focused approach.
Equality/Diversity
Repeated
Early identification of protected characteristics among the detainee population to fully comply with the spirit of the Equality Act 2010.
Education/Purposeful Activity
Repeated
Provision of tablet computers in the library at Tinsley House to enable detainees to download materials.
Education/Purposeful Activity
Repeated
Review of the portfolio of educational and other activities to focus specifically on the preparation of detainees for their release or removal from the UK, including incorporating more online courses with portable certificates.
Complaints/Property
While the number of detainees submitting formal complaints at the IRC in the first three months of 2020 was relatively low it remains difficult to monitor how well and how fairly they were handled. Feedback from the complainants is not usually forthcoming given the often lengthy timescales of investigation and reporting back involved, which often means that the complainant has long since left the IRC before the outcome of the complaint is known. The success rate of complaints being upheld remains proportionately low, and it is not possible to understand why, for example, a relatively high proportion are withdrawn at some stage in the process.
Other
Property issues are much more likely to become an issue should Tinsley House continue as a STHF, as there is much opportunity for small amounts of property to go missing when detainees arrive in small boats and come directly from the Kent intake team at Dover to Tinsley House STHF. In November, for example, bags of property relating to 40 different detainees were difficult to identify when they were taken off the coach, as apparently all labelling had been washed off in the rain.
Healthcare
Repeated
In our 2019 annual report, we recommended that healthcare staff should consider the reintroduction of monthly patient consultative forums, which had been discontinued early in 2019. It was our view that these forums had provided a valuable opportunity to engage with detainees and gather feedback on any healthcare issues they would like to raise.