Staff at a Home Office short-term immigration detention facility wore England flags pinned to their uniforms while guarding migrants, the prisons and detention watchdog has revealed. The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) said the practice risked perceptions of bias or intimidation, particularly given recent anti-immigration protests where St George's Cross flags were prominent.
The findings are contained in the IMB's national annual report, published on Wednesday, which draws on 127 reports about prisons, young offender institutions and immigration centres. The report paints a deeply troubling picture of systemic failings across the detention estate, with long-standing issues worsening rather than improving.
Concerns were also raised about the Home Office's one-in-one-out scheme to forcibly return small boat arrivals to France. At Gatwick immigration removal centre, 12 per cent of those detained under the scheme were age-disputed, with 20 per cent later found to be children, indicating serious safeguarding gaps. The criteria for selection remain secret and are subject to a High Court challenge.
Healthcare failings were highlighted: a detainee waited a month for treatment for a broken finger, while another waited three hours after a suspected stroke. At Gatwick, detainees were told they could not receive hospital treatment unless they agreed to be handcuffed, a practice the IMB called coercive.
In prisons, illicit drugs remain the biggest destabilising force. At HMP High Down, 13 medical emergencies were recorded in one day, largely drug-related. At HMP Bullingdon, three prisoners were hospitalised with spider bites. At Feltham Young Offenders Institution, 50 weapons were found among 100 boys in August 2025.
IMB interim chair Jane Leech called for honesty about deteriorating conditions and stronger oversight from the Home Office, warning that the evidence points to more acute problems unless there is a decisive shift away from denial and short-term fixes.
