A man has died at an immigration removal centre near Gatwick Airport
The 26-year-old died on Sunday while in detention at Brook House, which is operated by Serco on behalf of the Home Office, the security company confirmed.
Campaigners have described the facility as a ‘prison’, saying ‘no one should take their last breath’ there.
In a post on X, Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group said: ‘We send heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and everyone who knew and loved him.
‘Brook House is prison architecture and no-one should take their last breath there. We mourn that a young man died before he could be free.’
Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s refugee and migrant rights director, said: ‘We despair at reports that yet another person has died in the Brook House detention centre.
‘Our hearts go out to his family, friends and the fellow detainees affected by this tragedy too.’
It’s nearly a year since a 37-year-old Albanian man died a week after he tried to kill himself while detained there in November 2023.
A second Albanian man also tried to take his own life around the same time.
He was deported soon after before being immediately returned to the UK following a legal challenge by his lawyer.
Migrants have been subjected to abuse while detained at Brook House, which Valdez-Symonds said ‘has gained notoriety for violence, racism and abuse’.
He added: ‘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.’
A public inquiry found there had been 19 incidents of mistreatment against detainees over a five-month period in 2017.
The inquiry’s chair, Kate Eves – appointed by the previous Conservative government – described the response to its findings as ‘inadequate’ and called for a reset.
Campaigners say the problem is not isolated to just one facility, however, with Medical Justice describing removal centres as ‘dangerous’ and ‘dysfunctional’.
In one case highlighted by the charity, ‘multiple failings’ and ‘missed opportunities’ contributed to 39-year-old Frank Ospina killing himself in March last year, an inquest jury found this month.
He was separated from his mother by a glass wall when she visited him at the Colnbrook, in West Drayton, Middlesex, while he awaited removal to Colombia.
The jury described this as ‘inappropriate and unnecessary’, saying it ‘contributed to the deterioration of his mental health and incurred further stress’.
Medical Justice said: ‘Just a matter of days ago, in response to the inquest into the suicide in immigration detention of Frank Ospina following a catalogue of failings in his care, the Home Office claimed that it has taken a number of actions to improve the safeguards for individuals in detention.
‘Medical Justice has little confidence this is the case as we have seen no improvement in safety in detention following many such assurances over the years.’
Last week revealed a 26-year-old gay man from Nigeria, where homosexuality is illegal, was sent to Harmondsworth removal centre where he was subjected to homophobic abuse and sexual assault by fellow detainees.
When he reported this to officers at the centre, he said they ‘didn’t want to hear it’ and ‘dismissed’ him.
Addressing the latest death in immigration removal centres, Valdez-Symonds said: ‘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.’
The Home Office said their condolences are with the man’s family and friends.
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