Yarl’s Wood IRC

There has again been a marked increase in violence at Yarl’s Wood over the course of 2023, with many altercations between detained persons and an increase in damage to property, as well as physical and verbal assaults on both female and male officers.

The fragility of the centre’s fabric has been exposed by major incidents, and the Board questions the fitness of Yarl’s Wood for the purpose of detention.

Length of detention remains an issue with the average detention in 2023 being 53 days for men and 13 days for women. The percentage of persons detained more than two months increased to 23% from 14% in 2022.

The centre continued to see increasing numbers of detained persons arriving with mental health issues, including those transferred from the prison estate. Information coming from prisons about the mental health and vulnerability of men being transferred to Yarl's Wood could be improved, creating unnecessary risk and increasing staff workload.

Persons with severe mental health crises are being kept in the CSU whilst waiting to be transferred to mental health beds outside of the centre. The CSU does not provide a suitable environment for managing persons with severe mental health crises, both for their own safety and that of the staff.

There appears to be little or no oversight of Rule 35 applications. It is unclear which governing body oversees the quality of the Rule 35 process.

The removal process for FNOs is not started in prison before the end of an individuals’ sentence, leading to concerns for the length of time that TSFNOs spend detained at Yarl’s Wood, having served their sentence.

Some of the women have told the Board that they feel exposed and uncomfortable with the behaviour of some of the men who are able to see them in the outdoor exercise area from the first floor Crane unit windows.

Intermittently the Board has noted that centre did not look clean, and that plates and rubbish were left lying about. At times, the communal gardens were littered and the rule banning smoking indoors was not adequately enforced.

In November, some of the men complained to the Board that the tumble dryers on their unit were not working. More than four weeks later, this was still the case. The Board considers that such a basic maintenance issue should have been resolved within days.

Lack of case progression and poor communication about cases contribute significantly to the sense of frustration felt by detained individuals and for some, subsequent challenging behaviour.

The recruitment and retention of suitable staff is a constant challenge. During the year there have been several initial training courses (ITCs) for new recruits and the Board commends the appointment of an increasingly diverse staff who bring with them a range of important additional language skills.

There has been an increasing number of problems related to property. Some persons who have been held at police stations before being brought to the IRC have had real problems retrieving their property. One man did not have his phone which contained information essential to his case and was told by the police that he could not have it until they had finished examining it. After several months and a lot of effort by the welfare team, the police said that they had finished with the phone, and he could fetch it whenever he liked – totally impossible for someone in detention. After arriving from a different police station, a married couple still had none of their own clothes or belongings after three days of detention. Instances such as these are not acceptable.