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Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre
Campsfield House was an immigration detention centre located in Kidlington near Oxford, England, operated by private prison firm Group 4 under contract with the British government. For 25 years, it was the site of a regular monthly protest from human rights campaigners and saw a number of internal protests, hunger strikes and two suicides. However, it was highly praised by the Chief Inspector of Prisons at the last full inspection in 2014. Campsfield closed in 2018.
On 28 June 2022, the Home Office announced plans for a new immigration removal centre to be developed on the site of the former Campsfield House IRC. On 16 July 2022, the Coalition to Keep Campsfield Closed was launched with a rally in Oxford’s Bonn Square.[full citation needed]
Campsfield House used to be a youth detention centre, but it re-opened as an Immigration Detention Centre in November 1993. It originally had 200 places for both male and female prisoners, however in 1997, capacity was reduced to 184 and the prison became male only. The capacity rose to 282 bed spaces in 2017. Over 3600 people passed through the centre in 2017, with an average stay of 39 days.
Although the detainee population initially consisted of asylum seekers, from June 2006 government policy saw the population change to mainly (an average of 80%) former HMP prisoners detained on immigration grounds.
Until 2011, Campsfield was run by the American private prison company GEO Group. Campsfield House was their first European contract. In 2011 operations at the facility were turned over to Mitie Group PLC. Mitie's contract for Campsfield House expired in June 2019.
Detainees at Campsfield House were held behind a 20-foot-high (6.1 m) razor wire–topped fence. Throughout the centre there were surveillance cameras, and friends and relatives wishing to visit detainees were searched before passing through five separate remote-controlled doors. Detainees were allowed the use of mobile phones. Security of the centre was maintained by large perimeter fences, but within the establishment detainees were relatively free to roam. As opposed to cells, detainees had two or three man rooms and communal shower and toilet facilities. There were around fifteen single rooms. The doors to rooms were never locked, however the gates to the three accommodation blocks were locked between midnight and six in the morning. Detainees were free to move around the blocks during this time. This relatively relaxed regime, coupled with the new influx of ex-HMP prisoners led to difficulty in maintaining discipline at Campsfield.[citation needed]
Like all Immigration Removal Centres, Campsfield House was regularly inspected by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons. The last full inspection was in 2014. The Chief Inspector reported: 'This was the latest in a sequence of positive reports about the centre, all of which have found consistent improvement.... Overall, this was a very positive inspection. Staff and managers at Campsfield House should be congratulated in dealing professionally and sensitively with detainees”.
On 22 June 2005, a group of six Zimbabwean asylum seekers went on hunger strike for three days.
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Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre
Campsfield House was an immigration detention centre located in Kidlington near Oxford, England, operated by private prison firm Group 4 under contract with the British government. For 25 years, it was the site of a regular monthly protest from human rights campaigners and saw a number of internal protests, hunger strikes and two suicides. However, it was highly praised by the Chief Inspector of Prisons at the last full inspection in 2014. Campsfield closed in 2018.
On 28 June 2022, the Home Office announced plans for a new immigration removal centre to be developed on the site of the former Campsfield House IRC. On 16 July 2022, the Coalition to Keep Campsfield Closed was launched with a rally in Oxford’s Bonn Square.[full citation needed]
Campsfield House used to be a youth detention centre, but it re-opened as an Immigration Detention Centre in November 1993. It originally had 200 places for both male and female prisoners, however in 1997, capacity was reduced to 184 and the prison became male only. The capacity rose to 282 bed spaces in 2017. Over 3600 people passed through the centre in 2017, with an average stay of 39 days.
Although the detainee population initially consisted of asylum seekers, from June 2006 government policy saw the population change to mainly (an average of 80%) former HMP prisoners detained on immigration grounds.
Until 2011, Campsfield was run by the American private prison company GEO Group. Campsfield House was their first European contract. In 2011 operations at the facility were turned over to Mitie Group PLC. Mitie's contract for Campsfield House expired in June 2019.
Detainees at Campsfield House were held behind a 20-foot-high (6.1 m) razor wire–topped fence. Throughout the centre there were surveillance cameras, and friends and relatives wishing to visit detainees were searched before passing through five separate remote-controlled doors. Detainees were allowed the use of mobile phones. Security of the centre was maintained by large perimeter fences, but within the establishment detainees were relatively free to roam. As opposed to cells, detainees had two or three man rooms and communal shower and toilet facilities. There were around fifteen single rooms. The doors to rooms were never locked, however the gates to the three accommodation blocks were locked between midnight and six in the morning. Detainees were free to move around the blocks during this time. This relatively relaxed regime, coupled with the new influx of ex-HMP prisoners led to difficulty in maintaining discipline at Campsfield.[citation needed]
Like all Immigration Removal Centres, Campsfield House was regularly inspected by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons. The last full inspection was in 2014. The Chief Inspector reported: 'This was the latest in a sequence of positive reports about the centre, all of which have found consistent improvement.... Overall, this was a very positive inspection. Staff and managers at Campsfield House should be congratulated in dealing professionally and sensitively with detainees”.
On 22 June 2005, a group of six Zimbabwean asylum seekers went on hunger strike for three days.
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