Morton Hall Immigration Removal Centre
(asked on 21st March 2017) - View Source
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the <i>Report on an unannounced inspection of Morton Hall Immigration Removal Centre</i> by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, published on 21 March, what assessment they have made of the reasons for children being detained at the centre for (1) 12 days, (2) 36 days, and (3) 151 days, during the last year.
Answered by
Baroness Williams of Trafford
Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Home Office does not comment on individual cases.
The Home Office policy is not to detain children. Where there is doubt as to the age of an individual. Immigration Enforcement will detain individuals who claim to be a child (under 18) until they are referred to a local authority for a Morton-compliant age assessment. Individuals who frustrate the age assessment and identification process may incur a lengthened period of detention. All three individuals were later identified as children and released into the custody of local authorities.
The Government will respond to HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Report on the unannounced inspection of Morton Hall immigration Removal Centre in due course.