Controversial immigration center Yarl’s Wood has been branded “a national concern” in a new scathing report by the prisons watchdog. Nick Hardwick, chief prisons inspector, said that “Yarl’s Wood is failing to meet the needs of the most vulnerable women held.” Health care services at the centre have declined “severely” and pregnant women are still being held at the facility against government policy.
The centre, located in Bedfordshire, had over 350 detainees at the time of inspections in April and May. The vast majority of detainees are single women who have already experienced traumatic events such as rape and some are fleeing war and persecution. Home Office policy states pregnant women should not normally be detained but 99 were held at Yarl’s Wood in 2014. Only nine were ultimately removed from the UK. Other women have been held for more than a year because of “unacceptable” delays in processing their cases. In one case, a woman was held for 17 months.
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