UK: Immigration cells like kennels

Cells used by British officials to hold immigration detainees in Calais were so small staff dubbed them "dog kennels", a prisons watchdog report says.

Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers’ report criticised three immigration detention centres at the ferry port.

British officials work at Calais to stop illegal entry to the UK by ferry.

In August 2005, Ms Owers’ teams went into three units relating to immigration enforcement operations, and are used to hold temporarily people found attempting to smuggle themselves into the UK in the back of a lorry or by other means.

Staff had described the 4m by 3m cells with a hole-in-the-ground toilets as “dog kennels”.

On busy days as many as six people would be held in cells with no provision to separate men and women.

While the average detention was four hours, the longest detainee were there for 17 hours. In all, 17% of those held were given permission to enter Britain.

Source: BBC News