A 26-year-old man has died while in detention at Brook House migrant removal center in West Sussex, a facility run by security firm Serco near Gatwick Airport.
The death, which occurred on Sunday, has prompted condolences from the Home Office, which stated, “Our condolences are with the man’s family and friends.”
Brook House is one of several migrant removal centers in the UK, housing a range of detainees, including asylum seekers, those refused the right to remain, and individuals awaiting deportation following criminal sentences.
There is no legal maximum period for detainees to be held.
The center has previously faced scrutiny for its conditions. A public inquiry last year revealed a “toxic culture” in which migrants were reportedly subjected to degrading treatment and excessive force.
This inquiry followed a 2017 BBC Panorama investigation triggered by a whistleblower who worked as a custody officer at Brook House.
The inquiry’s final report documented 19 incidents of mistreatment, including instances where four detainees endured unnecessary pain, dangerous restraint techniques, and forced movements while detainees were naked or semi-naked.
It also reported the use of racist, homophobic, and humiliating language toward detainees, with the facility itself described as overcrowded, dirty, and plagued by aircraft noise and widespread use of the drug Spice.
In August, the Gatwick Independent Monitoring Board noted “continuing failings” in its review of Brook House, and last month, Kate Eves, who chaired the public inquiry, stated that the government had agreed to implement only one of her 33 recommendations for improvements.
The Home Office previously stated it is “committed” to improving conditions at immigration detention centers.
The Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group, a charity supporting detainees, likened Brook House to a prison, expressing sorrow over the man’s death: “We mourn that a young man died before he could be free,” the group said.
Amnesty International UK’s refugee and migrant rights director, Steve Valdez-Symonds, called the death a “tragedy,” adding, “Brook House has gained notoriety for violence, racism and abuse.
What part this may have in this man’s death, we do not yet know, but these degradations derive from a wider failure to make a system respect human dignity and rights.
Tragic incidents such as this emphasise why the government must bring humanity to the immigration system as much as any other policy area – people’s lives depend on it.”
