Family wing at Yarl’s Wood detention centre to close

The family wing of the Yarl’s Wood immigration detention centre in Bedfordshire is to close.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the move was part of the government’s commitment to end child detention for immigration purposes.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, he described the detention of children as a “moral outrage”.

Chief Inspector of Prisons Dame Anne Owers said earlier some children had been held at the centre unnecessarily.

Yarl’s Wood is the main removal centre holding women and families who are facing deportation.

‘Innocent children’

There were almost two months of protests at the centre earlier this year, including occupations of corridors while some women refused food.

Mr Clegg said it was “simply a moral outrage that last year the Labour government imprisoned behind bars 1,000 children who were innocent of any wrongdoing whatsoever”.

He said: “This coalition government… will once again restore a sense of decency and liberty to the way in which we conduct ourselves.”

A Home Office spokesperson told BBC News: “The new government has been clear in its commitment to end the detention of children.

“We are currently working to find an alternative that protects the welfare of children, without undermining our immigration laws.

“Yarl’s Wood family unit will be closed, but the centre will continue to function as an immigration removal facility for adults.”

21 July 2010

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-10715149

More on This Story