Inspectors have described the “worst conditions they have ever seen in immigration detention” inside a centre near Heathrow in west London.
Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor was so concerned by what he found during the visit in February that he wrote to then home secretary James Cleverly but received no reply.
The visit to Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre revealed “chaos” that was “truly shocking”, including violence and drug taking.
There had also been numerous suicide attempts made by people being held there, including an attempt during the inspection of the centre that led to “serious injuries to the detainee”.
Inspectors found the support for those who had said they felt suicidal was “not good enough”.
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A report following the visit details how a shortage of prison places meant more former prisoners were being held in Harmondsworth alongside people with no criminal convictions.
Assaults had doubled since the last inspection in 2017 and drug-taking, which is usually rare in immigration removal centres, was now “widespread”.
Inspectors could “smell cannabis” and saw detainees openly smoking in communal areas without being challenged by staff who largely kept to offices with “do not enter” taped across their doors.
Nearly two thirds of those being held in the centre, which can hold close to 700 men, said they had felt unsafe there.
Mr Taylor said: “The level of chaos that we found at Harmondsworth was truly shocking and we left deeply concerned that some of those held there were at imminent risk of harm.
“Nobody should be detained in an immigration removal centre unless they are going to be removed quickly from the country, yet around 60% of detainees were released from the centre, with only a third deported,…
