Concerns over immigration removal centre

At the last inspection into Lindholme IRC, adjacent to HMP Lindholme, inspectors said they were concerned by a number of safety issues, a lack of emphasis on preparing detainees for release and the inability of the IRC to break away from the prison and carve out a separate identity for itself.

In this new report from Nick Hardwick, chief inspector of prisons, it says that while some “superficial” progress has been made, there has been “little substantive change.”

Mr Hardwick said: “Managers and staff at Lindholme IRC had made some initial inroads into the areas for improvement identified in our last inspection.

“However, uncertainty over the IRC’s future appeared not only to have prevented much-needed investment in infrastructure but also hampered the bedding in of some of the changes that had been made.

“The IRC has a number of strengths upon which to build, but progress appears to be contingent upon clarification about its future – and a clear separation of the IRC from the adjacent prison.”