Harmonds- worth IRC, managed by GEO Group UK, is now back to full capacity after being partially made uninhabitable by frustrated detainees in November 2006.
Formally known as 'Wackenhut Corrections Corporation', GEO Group has been accused of gross civil rights violations relating to adequate access to food and medical care, especially at its USA Northwest Detention Center, including unlawful interrogations and coercing inmates to sign paperwork they would otherwise not be inclined to. Source 'Wikipedia'. GEO's worldwide operations include the management/ownership of 63 prisons/Immigration Removal Centres and residential treatment facilities with a capacity of 61,500 beds.
As of today there are a total of 3,436 bed spaces, in Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) and Short Term Holding Facilities (STHFs).
A sizable number of prison bed spaces are occupied by persons off the end of criminal sentences (have reached their release date) and continue to be detained as immigration offenders, awaiting deportation or transfer to a detention centre. UKBA no longer release the numbers of those held in prison as immigration offenders.
Eight IRCs and 4 STHFs are owned/managed or managed by private corporations, three IRCs managed by the Prison Service.
Campsfield House IRC GEO Group Bed spaces: 216 male detainees
Harmondsworth IRC GEO Group Bed spaces 615 male detainees
Yarl's Wood IRC Serco Bed spaces 405 Female detainees
Colnbrook IRC Serco Bed spaces 383 male detainees ( STHC 40 beds male/female)
Brook House IRC G4S Bed spaces 426 male detainees
Oakington IRC G4S Bed spaces 408 male detainees
Dungavel House G4S Bed spaces 190 Mixed, male, female
Tinsley House G4S Bed spaces 146 Male Detainees
Dover IRC HM Prison Service Bed spaces 316 male detainees
Haslar IRC HM Prison Service Bed spaces 160 male detainees
Lindholme IRC HM Prison Service Bed spaces 112 male detainees
Manchester STHF G4S Bed spaces 32
Queens Buildings (Heathrow) STHF G4S Bed spaces 15
Harwich STHF Abbey Security Ltd Bed spaces 12
Dover Harbour STHF Dover Harbour Board Bed spaces 20
Addresses/phone/fax/visiting times for all the above can be found here:
http://www.freemovement.org.uk/Resources/addresses.html
(Editors note, data has been taken from UKBA/Private management web sites)
USA: Deportation by Default
Mental Disability, Unfair Hearings, and Indefinite Detention in the US Immigration. Immigrants with mental disabilities are often unjustifiably detained for years on end, sometimes with no legal limits. The report documents case after case in which people with mental disabilities were prevented from making claims against deportation - including claims of US citizenship - because they were unable to represent themselves. Some of the people interviewed for the report did not know their own names, were delusional, could not tell time, or did not know that deportation meant removal from the United States.
Full report: Human Rights Watch 25/07/10
Article by John O, published first on 26. July 2010 @ :: indymedia.org.uk Migration and NoBorder news.