Asylum seekers at Scotland's immigration detention centre have been kicked and punched by guards and even handcuffed to security staff while undergoing medical treatment, a new report claims.
Asylum seekers at Scotland's immigration detention centre have been kicked and punched by guards and even handcuffed to security staff while undergoing medical treatment, a new report claims.
The report presents findings from a dossier of nearly 300 assaults by security teams hired by the Home Office to forcibly deport failed asylum seekers. The incidents are alleged to have taken place between January 2004 and June 2008.
The incidents include accusations of excessive force, beatings and racial abuse, resulting in injuries ranging from handcuff-bruised wrists to swollen faces and fractured ribs, wrists and ankles.
The alleged abuse has been detailed by groups co-ordinating the representation and medical care of failed asylum seekers. Among the cases are asylum seekers removed from Glasgow and taken to Dungavel Detention Centre in South Lanarkshire and others taken from holding centres elsewhere in the UK and placed in Dungavel, which is run by the private security firm Group4Securicor.
In one case a Malawian, described as Mr B, claims that last November he was dragged from his bed at Dungavel, pinned to the floor and kicked all over his body, including his head, in front of senior staff.
A 32-year-old Cameroonian, known as Ms SK, claims to have been taken from Dungavel to Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride on three occasions in relation to a lump on her breast but was handcuffed throughout her stay in hospital, while guards remained present throughout consultations.
A civil action for unlawful detention against the Home Office and Premier Detention Services, which ran Dungavel in 2004, was settled out of court, while Ms SK was later granted refugee status.
Another, known as Ms JN from the Democratic Republic of Congo, was handcuffed to guards while having her uterus examined, days after attempting suicide at Heathrow Airport.
The report, Outsourcing Abuse, was written by Birnberg Peirce & Partners, a legal firm specialising in immigration and civil liberties, Medical Justice, an organisation of ex-detainees, doctors and lawyers highlighting abuse in healthcare among asylum seekers, and the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns.
Most of the assaults are alleged to have taken place as the failed asylum seekers were transported for deportation.
Three firms - Group4Securicor, International Trading Agency Overseas Escorts and RSI Immigration Services - are approved by the government to carry out the removals.
A Group4Securicor spokesman said: "We will be examining the report in detail and will launch investigations into any allegations against G4S that may not already have been investigated and concluded. Our work in this regard will be in close co-operation with the UK Border Agency at all times."
