CLARE SAMBROOK 29 October 2013: What is the government really doing to protect immigration detainees from their guards?
In Parliament on Tuesday 15 October, the Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather challenged the government to come clean about a sexual abuse scandal.
Male guards employed by the commercial contractor Serco have, allegedly, been sexually abusing vulnerable women in their care at Yarl’s Wood, the Home Office’s Immigration Removal Centre in Bedfordshire.
Teather, the former families minister, asked: would the Home Secretary ensure that Serco’s reports on the scandal were published? Would the Home Office investigate?
What procedures were there to protect women from sexual assault and harassment? And had the Home Secretary reviewed the policy of detaining women for immigration purposes?
How does the government’s reply stand up to scrutiny? Let’s take it apart. Continue reading “The truth about sexual abuse in a British detention centre”