Diane welcomes report finding detention of children at Yarl's Wood is unecessary

Diane has welcomed a report today from Chief prisons inspector Dame Anne Owers who has said children were detained at Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre unnecessarily, with little consideration for their welfare.

The report also reveals that half of all children detained at Yarl’s Wood are released rather than deported, meaning many women and children are put through the trauma of detention for nothing.

Dame Anne’s report found 420 children were detained over six months last year for an average of 16 days, with one child held for a shocking 100 days.

Lawyers are currently preparing a legal challenge to detention.

Diane said:

“The detention of children at Yarl’s Wood is a long-standing scandal and I have long called for it to stop. This report just confirms my belief that detention is unnecessary. Half of all children are released, meaning their mothers are not deported and the upset and detention has been for nothing. We have heard from countless committees condemning the conditions in Yarl’s Wood and highlighting the damage that detaining children is causing. Many countries are in disbelief that this is allowed to happen here in the UK. The Joint Committee on Human Rights even found that the UK was in breach of its human rights obligations by detaining children but detention has continued. The best thing that could be done is to close the centre before further damage is done both to detainees and to the UK’s reputation.”

back ⇢