Vulnerable migrants routinely handcuffed and detained for hours, damning report finds

Vulnerable migrants held in UK detention centers were routinely handcuffed and some were detained for hours, a damning report has revealed.

Examples of unnecessary force include handcuffing a small, frail 70-year-old man during a hospital visit despite having no disturbing history, and subjecting another man to rigid bar handcuffs, a waist harness, as well as thigh and ankle restraints for more than four and a half hours.

Force and restraint should only be used as a last resort, but inspectors at the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), which oversees prisons and detention centres, found it was largely ignored by immigration staff.

The IMB report, published on Wednesday, found disproportionate force was used against people recorded as vulnerable and medical staff were not notified quickly enough when this happened. In one case, it took more than four hours for staff to tell paramedics that the man was restrained despite repeatedly hitting his head against the wooden bed frame.

He said cases like the one highlighted affect people’s willingness to go to hospital appointments because of the stigma of being handcuffed.

In another case, a man at risk of self-harm or suicide was restrained while being transferred from the detention center to the airport for deportation. During the trip, the man removed his pants and was carried onto the plane naked from the waist down, soiling himself in the process. The companion screamed at the staff and threw a blanket that was supposed to cover her. The report revealed the staff member then took turns kneeling or standing in the front seat, pushing his head towards his own seat.

In another case, a bailiff threatened a detained immigrant with pain; In the investigation of the incident, it was seen that this threat could not be accepted. In another case, a staff member used force against an immigrant and later investigated the incident himself.

IMB national chair Elisabeth Davies said: “The findings of this report are extremely worrying. To be lawful, the use of force must be necessary, reasonable, proportionate and justified, but we see a system where restraint has become routine, oversight is weak and the dignity of detained individuals is often disregarded.”

Ms Davies warned that little had been done to learn lessons from the Brook House investigation, which was launched after Panorama’s undercover investigation in 2017 filmed shocking scenes of abuse against detainees.

“The Home Office is still not doing enough to prevent such failures from happening again,” Ms Davies said.

Kate Eves, who chaired the Brook House inquiry, said: Independent: “It is extremely worrying to see that, two years on from the findings of the statutory inquiry into abuse at Brook House, the same problems have been identified. There should be no doubt that the excessive use of force, combined with a lack of robust safeguards, contributes to a toxic environment in which vulnerable people are more likely to be mistreated.”

He said the IMB report “shows that despite assurances, lessons have not been learned”.

A spokesman for Medical Justice, the charity that supports people in detention, said the Home Office had “been inexcusably neglectful of the safety of vulnerable people in its care”.

A man named Said, who the charity supported before being deported to France under the UK-France deal, said belts were used to restrain him during his deportation.

He told the charity: “[Enforcement staff] They opened their bags and started taking out four different belts and started using them by force and tying me up. They hit my head against the wall many times while I was screaming in pain, but they were not very kind to me.

“The belt tied around my shoulders got stuck in my throat. I started screaming and saying that I wanted to die and that I would untie the belt around my neck, but they thought I just wanted to be let go.”

Gatwick immigration detention center said almost all migrants taken to hospital appointments in 2024 and early 2025 were handcuffed and inspectors found the restraint had become “the default rather than the exception”.

People were also routinely handcuffed as they were taken onto flights at Luton airport.

A Home Office spokesman said: “Last week, the home secretary announced the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal immigration in modern times, which will make it easier to deport and deport immigrants. “As part of this, we are reforming human rights laws and replacing the broken appeals system.

“We will carefully consider the findings of the report. The Ministry of Internal Affairs reviews all use of force incidents to ensure that techniques are used proportionately.”