- News
- UK
- Home News
Home Office criticised for detention of Rwanda migrants for ‘unacceptable’ length of time after flights were cancelled by then-Tory government
Holly BancroftHome Affairs Correspondent Thursday 04 December 2025 00:07 GMT
CloseShabana Mahmood tells Nigel Farage to ‘sod off’ as she defends asylum reforms
Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world
Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email
Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email
Email*SIGN UPI would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice
Migrants were pepper-sprayed at a UK immigration detention centre amid rising levels of violence and unrest, a damning inspection report reveals.
Inspectors at the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) found there had been a surge in incidents at the scandal-hit Brook House centre, from four in 2023 to 28 in 2024, with an increase in illegal drug use and attacks on staff and other detainees.
These included several large-scale protests involving between 25 to 40 people, and multiple instances of men climbing onto the anti-suicide netting on the wings in frustration at the slow progress of their cases.
The IMB, which oversees prisons and immigration detention, said that on at least a dozen occasions, the incidents were so serious that the National Tactical Response Group - a specialist prison squad trained to respond to serious incidents - had to be called in. And on two occasions, PAVA spray, a form of synthetic pepper spray, was used on the detainees.
Migrants are taken to Brook House or Tinsley House, two centres that can house 588 men, managed by Home Office contractor Serco, in Gatwick, before deportation. However, the majority of men who are held there - 60 per cent - are released back into the community rather than deported.
An inquiry was launched into the management of Brook House after a 2017 undercover Panorama investigation exposed shocking scenes of abuse against detainees.
open image in galleryDemonstrators outside Brook House immigration centre protest against the Tory government’s Rwanda scheme (PA)In the report published on Thursday, inspectors criticised the Home Office for holding detainees, destined for Rwanda under the former Tory government’s scheme, for an “unacceptable” length of time after it became clear flights would not take off. Some were detained for a month after Rishi Sunak called the general election, despite the then-prime minister admitting that no flights would take off.
Home Office staff described the men who had arrived in detention under the Rwanda scheme as “shocked and bewildered”. Many had been publicly arrested in their homes and taken away in handcuffs, while others had their front doors broken down.
Inspectors said that the level of violence between men and toward staff at Gatwick was “very concerning”, particularly at the Brook House site.
There were 74 cases of assault between detainees in Brook House in 2024, and 86 across all the Gatwick sites. This was slightly up on 2023 but significantly up on the 22 incidents recorded in 2022.
There has also been an increase in the number of assaults on staff, with 180 attacks recorded - up from 146 in 2023.
open image in galleryPeople held at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre at Gatwick respond to protesters outside. (PA)Use of force also increased in 2024, with 785 incidents recorded, up from 599 the year before. These were both much higher than pre-2023 levels.
There has also been an increase in drugs THC, the psychoactive compound found in cannabis, and spice at the detention centres, the report found. Detainees said theyfelt unsafe due in part to the use of illegal drugs at the sites, which is making people’s behaviour unpredictable.
Men with serious mental and physical vulnerabilities were being brought into detention and kept there for long periods, inspectors warned. Five men held at Brook House in 2024 had such serious mental health problems that they were sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
In one shocking example, a 68-year-old man with dementia and reduced mobility was detained at Brook House. He was held there for at least nine months, with professionals failing to raise concerns about his condition.
Another man who arrived in June 2023 was held for more than 400 days at Brook House despite numerous acts of self-harm and officials knowing that his mental health was deteriorating in detention.
By June 2024, he was spending days on end in the dark in his room, refusing medication, and only eating if food was brought to him. It took several weeks of preparatory work before he was finally able to re-enter the outside world on release.
In another case, a young man was detained at Tinsley House despite saying he was 16 years old. His family were able to provide documents showing he was 16, and he was released two days later, but inspectors said they were very concerned that a young person could end up in an adult detention centre.
While 2,165 men left the Gatwick detention centres for a deportation flight in 2024, some 3,134 people were released to remain in the UK.
The Home Office has been contacted for comment.
