The changing approach to child detention and its implications for immigration detention in the UK Hindpal Singh Bhui is Inspection Team Leader, HM Inspectorate of Prisons.1 In 2010, the government announced a new process for deporting children and families, which has, in turn, changed the approach to the immigration detention of children.2 Although the degree to which this new policy is affecting children’s experiences of detention is disputed,3 it does seem to be a substantial adjustment, resulting in fewer detained children being held for less time and in better conditions. In particular, the length of time that families with children can be detained is now limited to a week — a reform of considerable note given that indefinite administrative detention, stretching in some cases to years, still applies to adult detainees. The treatment of children in the immigration system is rightly an issue that receives a great deal of attention and this is consequently the area of detention that has seen the most focused thinking and innovative practice. However, there is no reason in principle why changed thinking and improved practices in this area of detention could not be replicated elsewhere. In this article I discuss what these improvements might look like, and argue that they could have far-reaching consequences for the way that detention is viewed. The recent changes have also exposed fundamental questions about legitimacy and justice that are close to the surface of all debates about immigration detention. A mature and progressive dialogue about immigration detention should address such issues directly. Some context and history A variety of factors in our rapidly globalising world are fuelling migratory pressures, from economic disparity 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. and poverty, to climate change, famine, and war. Some people are moving because of persecution in home states, but, as has been the case for centuries, many others leave because they want a better life for themselves and their families. Where easy legal means do not exist, criminal networks have been able and willing to exploit the desire of people to move between countries, facilitating the growth of people smuggling and human trafficking4. Detention is a relatively recent part of the state’s response to unwanted migration, only really gaining popularity in the last century5. In the UK, it has been used since the 1905 Aliens Act was passed to restrict ‘undesirable’ elements from entering the country. However, the Act was not enthusiastically enforced and resulted in little use of detention. The First World War increased fear of outsiders and gave greater impetus to attempts at regulation. The more far-reaching 1914 Aliens Restriction Act led to tens of thousands of foreign internees and was the first time that the hitherto relatively liberal approach to immigration control appeared to be substantially undermined6. But it is only since a succession of immigration acts, beginning with the 1962 Act, that attempts to limit immigration have become more serious and systematic, with the first immigration detention centres opening in the 1970s7. It has taken even longer for detention to become an integral part of immigration control. It has been commonly used since the 1990s, increasing markedly in the last 10 years. In 1993 the immigration detention estate still had a capacity of 250 places; it now holds around 3,000, with three large purpose-built centres — Colnbrook (capacity 308), Brook House (426) and an extension to Harmondsworth (total centre capacity now 615) — opened since 2004. This article is written in a personal capacity and does not necessarily represent the views of HM Chief Inspector of Prisons. ‘New Family Returns Process Begins’ http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/newsarticles/2011/march/03new-family-returnsprocess. Sambrook, C. (2012) The UK Border Agency’s long, punitive campaign against children (helped by G4S and Serco): http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/clare-sambrook/uk-border-agencys-long-punitive-campaign-against-children-helped-byg4s-an e.g. Griffin, C.E. (2009), ‘Deportation and reintegration in the Caribbean and Latin America: addressing the development–security paradox’, in William F. Mcdonald (Ed) Immigration, Crime and Justice. Sociology of Crime Law and Deviance, Volume 13. Emerald Publishing. Wilsher, D. (2012) Immigration Detention. Cambridge University Press. Ibid. Bacon, C. (2005) The Evolution of Immigration Detention in the UK: The Involvement of Private Prison Companies. Refugee Studies Centre Working Paper 27, University of Oxford: http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/publications/working-papersfolder_contents/RSCworkingpaper27.pdf Issue 205 Prison Service Journal 23