HM Inspectorate of Prisons

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons for England and Wales (HMIP) has a responsibility to report on the conditions and treatment of those in prisons and other places of detention. This includes immigration detention.

The Chief Inspector is appointed by the Justice Secretary. His team has a role to provide independent scrutiny of detention, through a human rights based framework. This is based on the concept of ‘healthy establishments’.

Several obviously mentally ill women had been detained before being sectioned and released to a more appropriate medical facility; it was difficult to understand why they had been detained in the first place

HMIP on Yarl’s Wood, 2013

The Inspectorate team carry out unannounced inspections of each detention facility every two to three years, and produce a report of their findings. They also make a series of recommendations to the Home Office and the centre management. These recommendations form the basis of a service improvement plan, which gives detail on how the recommendations will be implemented, or rejected. We’ve collated the full list of reports below. You can find out more on the HMIP website. 

Here you will find the most recent inspection reports on each detention centre. 

Thematic Inspection Reports: