Immigrants: Detainees

(asked on 16th October 2017) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people identified as victims of torture are still being held in detention centres; and if she will make a statement.


Answered by
Brandon Lewis Portrait
Brandon Lewis
This question was answered on 25th October 2017

The adults at risk policy, which came into force on 12 September 2016, aims to improve the approach to identifying individuals who may be particularly vulnerable to harm in detention, based on the available evidence, with a clear presumption that they should not be detained. Victims of torture are amongst the groups of individuals who are protected by this policy. Each case is decided on its own merits, on the basis of the available evidence. Vulnerable individuals, including torture victims, are detained only when the immigration control factors – removability, public protection and compliance with immigration law – in their particular case outweigh the evidence of their vulnerability. Individuals are detained only when there is a realistic prospect of removal within a reasonable timeframe.

There is no specific centrally recorded data on individuals who are currently being held in immigration removal centres, and who have been identified as victims of torture.

Where individuals are found by the courts to have been detained unlawfully they may be awarded damages as part of those legal proceedings. It is for the courts to make decisions on these matters.

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