World Immigration News

Medical Justice’s first immigration detention annual review highlights ongoing safeguarding failures

Release Date: 2025-07-31
Media: Electronic Immigration Network
Summary: Medical Justice has published its first annual report on healthcare and harm in UK immigration detention, based on clinical and case data from 73 detainees in 2024. The report highlights widespread systemic failures in safeguarding vulnerable individuals and delivering adequate healthcare in detention centers (IRCs).

Key findings include that 82% of detainees were torture survivors, 63% had trafficking histories, and 91% showed symptoms of PTSD. Despite these serious vulnerabilities, many were detained for long periods—some up to two years—and 90% were ultimately released, raising questions about the justification for their detention.

The report criticizes the UK’s Rule 35 safeguarding process, which is meant to alert the Home Office to those at risk of harm in detention. Medical Justice found frequent delays, poor-quality reporting, and instances where medical assessments failed to recognize severe mental health conditions. In some cases, suicidal detainees waited weeks for assessments, with life-threatening consequences.

Healthcare in detention was also found lacking, with many cases of undiagnosed PTSD and inadequate mental health care. Psychological therapy was rare, and medication was often the default treatment. Despite clinicians issuing numerous medical recommendations, IRC healthcare providers often took little to no action.

Medical Justice concludes that the detention system is fundamentally broken, with safeguards failing in practice. Many detainees only accessed help through chance or outside support. The organization warns that rising detention rates under the Labour government could result in more harm to vulnerable individuals, especially without proper legal aid or interpretation services.
Tags: United Kingdom

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