Panorama goes undercover in an Immigration Removal Centre and reveals chaos, incompetence and abuse. The programme will be broadcast today, 4 September, at 21:00 on BBC1, and again at 00:05 on 9 September on BBC2. For more information, see http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b094mhsn.
The covert footage, recorded by a detainee custody officer, reveals widespread self-harm and attempted suicides in a centre where drugs, particularly the synthetic cannabis substitute spice, are rife. Many officers do their best to control the chaos, but some are recorded mocking, abusing and even assaulting detainees.
Detention Forum, the network that GDWG helps to coordinate, have put out a statement which draws attention not only to the allegations of abuse by G4S staff, but also to the need for scrutiny of the UK government’s use of indefinite immigration detention. The statement is available at: http://detentionforum.org.uk/our-response-to-brook-house-g4s-staff-abuse-allegations/
