Legal advice delays for migrants at removal centre near Gatwick - BBC

Detained migrants due to be sent to France can wait up to a week without getting legal help, according to a report.

An inspector wrote that detainees at Tinsley House Immigration Removal Centre had to wait to attend advice surgeries, which some "attended several times before receiving representation".

The centre, near Gatwick Airport, mostly holds small boat arrivals to be returned to France under the "one in, one out" deal that sees the UK take in migrants believed to have a legitimate asylum claim.

The Home Office said it would consider the recommendations and was "working to strengthen support for vulnerable individuals across the detention estate".

His Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) inspected the centre unannounced between 15 June and 2 July and found it was "a reasonably safe and decent establishment".

But its report, external also highlighted a series of concerns.

HMIP said: "Given that more than half of all detainees were eventually released, there is a question as to why so many were locked up at a huge cost to the taxpayer in the first place."

The report also highlighted that detainees "lived in poorly ventilated rooms", and communal bathrooms had "a pervasive foul smell" due to drainage problems.

Inspectors also found "poor governance of health care services" and "poor" mental health provision.

They were also concerned that "detainees experienced barriers when trying to communicate with family, friends and legal advisers".

Staffing at the centre was "generally good" and most detainees said staff "treated them well", inspectors said.