Immigration detainees – June 2014
The Prison Reform Trust is concerned about people who stay in prison when their sentence has finished because they are being considered for deportation. In 20112012, between 400-600 people at any one time were detained after the sentence.
The Prison Reform Trust is concerned about people who stay in prison when their sentence has finished because they are being considered for deportation. In 20112012, between 400-600 people at any one time were detained after the sentence.
The prison service has agreed with the immigration service that there can be up to 1000 spaces for immigration detainees in prison. These are for people that have completed a criminal sentence and are being considered for deportation. At the moment there is a freeze on moving people who have finished their sentence to immigration removal centres.
We are also concerned about the length of time people can stay in prison. The prison service statistics say that the average time is 77 days after the end of the sentence. However, an inspectorate report on HMP Lincoln last year found that someone had been in prison for nine years after his sentence had finished.
If your sentence is finished and you are being kept in prison by the immigration authorities, you are now a detainee. You have more rights and privileges than when you were serving your criminal sentence. Everyone who is kept in prison under immigration powers must be told the reasons why. These are written on the IS91R form. If you are detained after your sentence you should be given this form by the immigration services. You should also get a monthly update form (called the IS151F form) from the immigration service. If you do not have these, you should contact your caseworker at the immigration services, if you know who this is, or the foreign national coordinator in the prison.
If you are a detainee, you have the same rights as an unconvicted – also known as remand – prisoner. This means that you have a number of special rights and privileges, which we explain a bit later on. The prison can change these privileges if there are security or important reasons.
Unconvicted prisoners are held in local prisons. This does not mean that you will be transferred to a local prison automatically. If you are in another type of prison, you might want to stay there. Prison Service Instruction (PSI) 52/2011 also says that if you agree to be in a prison with convicted prisoners, the prison must try to make sure that you have the special rights and privileges for unconvicted
prisoners.
PSI 52/2011 explains that it is for the Governor of the prison to decide whether or not someone can stay in convicted conditions after they have finished their sentence. If you are going to stay in a prison that is not a remand prison, the prison must write down that you agree to this. The prison will explain to you that you will be in a prison with convicted prisoners and ask you to sign a form.
There is more information about this in Prison Service Order (PSO) 4600. The rules about the special privileges say that you don’t have to work. But if you do want to do work or training, there should be opportunities for you to do this, if possible. You should also have opportunities for education, exercise and association.
from insidetime issue June 2013
