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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions >> T, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2007] EWHC 3074 (Admin) (18 December 2007) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2007/3074.html Cite as: [2007] EWHC 3074 (Admin) |
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QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Strand London WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
(Sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge)
BETWEEN:
____________________
THE QUEEN | ||
On the application of T |
Claimant |
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-and- | ||
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT | Defendant |
____________________
Partners, London N22 6BB
Philip Coppel for the Defendant (instructed by Treasury Solicitor)
Hearing date: 3 December 2007
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Crown Copyright ©
The Deputy Judge:
Introduction
Factual background
The Legal and Policy Framework
Detention under the Immigration Acts
"Immigration detainees should only be held in prison establishments when they present specific risk factors that indicate they are unsuitable for immigration removal centres, for reasons of security or control. Immigration detainees will only normally be held in prison accommodation in the following circumstances:
- National security – where there is specific (verified) information that a person is a member of a terrorist group or has been engaged in terrorist activities
- Criminality – those detainees who have completed prison sentences of 4 years or more, have been involved in the importation of Class A drugs, committed serious offences involving violence, or committed a serious sexual offence requiring registration on the Sex Offenders Register
- Security – where the detainee has escaped or attempted to escape from prison, prison or immigration custody, or planned or assisted others to do so
- Control – engagement in serious disorder, arson, violence or damage, or planning or assisting others to so engage
When a detainee meets the above criteria DEPMU will refer them to the Population Management Unit (PMU) of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) who will consider their allocation to a prison.
…
All cases who have completed a prison sentence will be assessed by DEPMU on an individual basis as to whether they should remain in prison or be transferred to an IS removal centre. Any individual may request a transfer from prison to an IS removal centre and, if rejected by DEPMU, will be given reasons for this decision."
"28. On occasion, CPT delegations have found immigration detainees held in Prisons. Even if the actual conditions of detention for these persons in the establishments concerned are adequate – which has not always been the case – the CPT considers such an approach to be fundamentally flawed. A prison is by definition not a suitable place in which to detain someone who is neither convicted nor suspected of a criminal offence.
Admittedly, in certain exceptional cases, it might be appropriate to hold an immigration detainee in a prison, because of a known potential for violence. Further an immigration detainee in need of in-patient treatment might have to be accommodated temporarily in a prison health-care facility, in the event of no other secure hospital facility being available. However such detainees should be held quite separately from prisoners, whether on remand or convicted.
29. In the view of the CPT, in those cases where it is deemed necessary to deprive persons of their liberty for an extended period under aliens legislation, they should be accommodated in centres specifically designed for that purpose, offering material conditions and a regime appropriate to their legal situation and staffed by suitably-qualified personnel. The committee is pleased to note that such an approach is increasingly being following in Parties to the Convention. …"
"Custody must be effected in a public establishment specifically intended for this purpose; when, for practical purposes, this is not the case the asylum-seeker or immigrant must be placed in premises separate from those for persons imprisoned under criminal law."
Conditions of Detention in Prison
"These special privileges are not absolute and can be tempered by consideration of security, operational need and practical considerations".
Conditions of Detention in an IRC
"The purpose of detention centres shall be to provide for the secure but humane accommodation of detained persons in a relaxed regime with as much freedom of movement and association as possible, consistent with maintaining a safe and secure environment, and to encourage and assist detained persons to make the most productive use of their time, whilst respecting in particular their dignity and the right to individual expression".
"In accordance with rules 27, 28 and 57, detained persons shall be entitled to enjoy family life by way of visits from, or communication with, family members living outside the detention centre, save to the extent necessary in the interests of security or safety".
"Every detained person may receive as many visits as he wishes within such reasonable limit and subject to such reasonable conditions as the Secretary of State may direct, either generally or in a particular case".
Convention Rights
Submissions
"… the State must ensure that a person is detained in conditions which are compatible with respect for his human dignity, that the manner and method of the execution of the measure do not subject him to distress or hardship of an intensity exceeding the unavoidable level of suffering inherent in detention …" (para 95).
In that case the applicant's conditions of detention "in particular the severely overcrowded and insanitary environment had its detrimental effect on the applicant's health and well-being, combined with the length of the period during which the applicant was detained in such conditions, amounted to degrading treatment" (para 101).
Article 5 of the Convention
"… there must be some relationship between the ground of permitted deprivation of liberty relied on and the place and conditions of detention." (para 46).
Mr Southey submits that it follows that immigration detainees should be held in immigration detention centres and prisoners should be held in prisons. Further support for this submission is to be found, he says, in the CPT standards (see paragraph 17 above) which are relevant when considering whether there has been compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights (Yakovenko v. Ukraine, Application No. 15825/06 at paragraph 108); and Principle 9 of the UN document (referred to in paragraph 18 above which is also relevant to the interpretation of the European Convention: see The United Kingdom [2000] 30 EHRR 121 at paragraph 73).
Detention centre Rules and the OEM
Article 8 of the Convention
"... normal restrictions and limitations consequent on prison life and discipline during lawful detention are not matters which would constitute in principle a violation of Art 8 either because they are considered not to constitute an interference with a detainee's private and family life or because any such interference would be justified" (para 71).
Conclusion