ICVA is pleased to publish a new report, Immigration Detainees in Police Custody.

This report represents a significant piece of work for ICVA and is the culmination of over two years of work. We are grateful to Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB), the Association of Visitors to Immigration Detainees (AVID), Independent Custody Visiting schemes, and partners across policing, immigration enforcement, inspection and oversight for their engagement and collaboration.

The report was developed in response to concerns raised through monitoring activities about the experiences of individuals detained under immigration powers in police custody. While police custody is primarily designed for short-term detention, its use in relation to immigration matters appears to be increasing, making it important to better understand the experiences, rights and welfare of this group.

To do this, ICVA established the Immigration Detention Network, undertook a national custody record review pilot across eight custody schemes, and hosted a multi-agency roundtable bringing together key stakeholders.

The report identifies a number of important themes, including:

• Immigration detainees appear to spend longer than the average detainee in police custody, with the average detention time in our custody record review pilot being 20 hours and 24 minutes and over a third of detainees being held for over 24 hours.

• While rights and healthcare provision were generally recorded as being well met across the pilot, gaps were identified in the recording of detainee entitlements meaning it was often not possible to determine whether important provisions such as blankets, showers, exercise, distraction items and other welfare and dignity measures had been offered.

• Communication emerged as a concern, with delays in interpreter provision, inconsistent use of interpretation services, and delays involving immigration processes all identified within the pilot.

• Discussions with people who had experience of immigration detention in police custody also highlighted the lasting impact that uncertainty, isolation and communication barriers can have on detainee wellbeing.

Alongside the findings, the report sets out recommendations for a range of organisations including the Home Office, Immigration Enforcement, the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the College of Policing, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, ICVA, AVID and IMB. We are pleased to have engaged with these organisation on this work and the recommendations. The report not only identifies areas for improvement but also reflects a growing commitment across agencies to better understand and improve the experience of immigration detainees in police custody.

We hope this report will act as a catalyst for further discussion, collaboration and improvement, and provide a strong foundation for future work in this important area.