Campaigners say North Yorkshire asylum centre could have staffing issues like nearby 'super prison'
“Super prison” HMP Millsike is still not fully operational due to a “chronic shortage of staff”.
Campaigners have claimed that the proposed migrant centre in a small North Yorkshire village could face staffing issues like the nearby “super prison”, which has not got enough officers to open at full capacity.
The Home Office has pledged to close asylum hotels and is looking to move migrants into former Ministry of Defence sites across the country.
One of those is RAF Linton-on-Ouse which is embedded in the small village of 650 people, near York, of the same name.
The Government has applied for planning permission to house around 1,300 migrants at the site, even though a similar proposal in 2022 failed on technical grounds.
Four years ago, the Home Office paid contractor Serco around £1.5m for recruitment, training and project management before the plans were scrapped.
It is expected that a private contractor will run the site once again.
Campaigners, who have warned against an influx of men on a small village of around 650 people, have questioned whether the proposed asylum centre will be able to find the staff, given the struggles of nearby super prison HMP Millsike.
The prison, around 20 miles away from Linton-on-Ouse, near Stamford Bridge, was opened in March last year at a cost of £400m.
It is run by Mitie, another private contractor which primarily operates immigration centres.
This is the firm’s first time in charge of a prison, but it could potentially bid to run any RAF Linton-on-Ouse asylum centre.
When HMP Millsike is fully operational it will hold 1,468 prisoners, however at the moment it is restricted to a capacity of 1,158.
This comes at a time when the Government is having to release prisoners early to cope with overcrowding.
It is normal for prisons to slowly increase prisoner numbers after opening, although experts say this usually takes between six months and a year.
Both the Prison Officers Association and independent inspectors have said this is down to a “chronic shortage of staff”.
Ian Carson, the POA area representative for Yorkshire and the North East, said the prison’s close proximity to the publicly-run HMP Sutton meant that it was struggling to recruit staff, as the older prison was a more appealing offer.
“Staffing the prison is difficult because of the issues there and the location,” he said.
“HMP Full Sutton is over the road and has staff vacancies. If you wanted to become a prison officer surely you would opt for the public sector?”
The Independent Monitoring Board, which recently published a damning report into HMP Millsike, said: “The site is out in the sticks, which makes both recruiting and holding on to staff difficult.
“Experience is everything when running a prison, and the lack of it impacts on everything.”
The report found that staff left for numerous different reasons which “included officers not being paid and excessive unpredictable hours being worked”.
The Linton-on-Ouse Action Group has claimed that any asylum centre in the village would recruit from the same pool of candidates that HMP Millsike is attempting to hire from.
The group’s spokesperson Olga Matthias said: “The Home Office must explain why lessons from 2022 have been ignored and they continue with their feasibility study wasting millions more taxpayer funds.
“With HMP Millsike already unable to staff its cells and Linton being more rural, recruitment barriers are the same as they ever were, if not worse – just insanity.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “While we do not comment on operational or commercial matters, the asylum estate operates separately from the prison estate.
“We are working to fairly house asylum seekers across the country, engaging with local authorities to reduce the impact on communities.
“And we are reducing the burden on taxpayers, with asylum costs down by over £1bn since the general election.”
Mitie said that it currently has 80 new prison officers progressing through its onboarding process.
A spokesperson said: “While we value the Independent Monitoring Board's oversight, we do not believe its description of the prison at the time it opened, as being a fair or accurate reflection of the conditions at HMP Millsike.
“Since the prison opened, the overriding objective of our colleagues, working in challenging circumstances, has been to ensure that those within our care are treated with decency and respect, whilst creating a safe and secure environment that supports rehabilitation.
“We welcome the recognition of the improvements made since opening.
“The report highlights progress in operational stability, safety, healthcare provision, reception processes and complaint handling, as well as examples of ‘excellent work’ by our prison officers.
“We continue to work closely with HM Prison and Probation Service, the Ministry of Justice and the Independent Monitoring Board as the prison works towards full capacity.”