Heathrow detention 'inadequate'

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Special holding rooms to detain suspect illegal immigrants at Heathrow Airport have been criticised by the prisons watchdog for a second time.

Inspectors saw a detainee subjected to an offensive confrontation and another told he did not need lost shoes in the hot country he was being sent to.

The watchdog welcomed some improvements but said conditions were inappropriate.

Britain's immigration chief said most of those held in the facilities were there for just a few hours only.

The airport's four terminals have temporary facilities to hold suspected illegal immigrants identified as they enter the country.

A fifth set of rooms in another building is used for people who are to be put on a flight out of the country.

Hundreds of people can pass through the units in any month, many being held for a few hours. But some detainees have been held for more than 24 hours.

In her report, chief inspector Anne Owers said that teams had made an unannounced follow-up visit to the airport's facilities in July 2007 after a critical report in October 2005.

Ms Owers said there had been some "limited improvements" but some aspects of conditions remained inadequate.

Inspectors had seen staff using "dehumanising" language, she said, including referring to detainees as "bodies" in "pens".

The team also witnessed two officers use "extremely unprofessional behaviour" towards one detainee who was facing deportation.

Children's conditions

The report criticised provisions for children and women, saying some were being kept in the same rooms as men they did not know.

Since the inspection there have been considerable changes including improvements to child protection procedures Lin Homer, Borders and Immigration Agency

Local child protection chiefs were not aware children were being held in these units, although the airport does has specific rooms for arriving children asylum seekers.

In one of the buildings detainees were sleeping on the floor on improvised bedding, said Ms Owers.

Ms Owers welcomed some better supervision and the introduction of regular visits by an Independent Monitoring Board. Inspectors praised an officer for calmly settling a detainee in a volatile situation.

But she added: "It is clear that it will not be possible to provide appropriately safe and decent facilities in the current settings. The remodelling of the airport provides an opportunity to specify and provide suitable accommodation."

Lin Homer, chief executive of the Border and Immigration Agency, said the facilities were there to enforce fair rules.

"Since the inspection there have been considerable changes including improvements to child protection procedures and we are carrying out a review of both the complaints procedures and the use of force," said Ms Homer.

"We are introducing further training to build on positive staff behaviour."