Migrants 'unnecessarily and routinely cuffed for hours'

Home Office accused of 'inexcusable disregard for safety'

- HOLLY BANCROFT HOME AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT

Vulnerable migrants held in UK detention centres are routinely being handcuffed, with some detained for hours, a damning report has found.

Examples of unnecessary force include a frail 70-year-old man being handcuffed during a hospital visit, despite having no history of being disruptive, and another man subjected to rigid bar cuffs and a waist-restraint belt, as well as thigh and ankle restraints, for more than four-and-a-half hours.

Force and restraints should only be used as a last resort. Still, inspectors at the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), which oversees prisons and detention centres, found this was largely being disregarded by immigration staff.

The IMB report, published yesterday, found that force had been disproportionately used against people recorded as vulnerable, and healthcare staff were not notified quickly enough when it did happen. In one case, it took staff more than four hours to tell medics that a man had been restrained despite him banging his head repeatedly on a wooden bed frame.

It said cases, such as those highlighted, were impacting people’s willingness to attend hospital appointments due to the stigma of being handcuffed.