Resources for Secure Environments

Immigration

Though not directly relevant to healthcare personnel it is important for healthcare to understand how the Home Office deal with vulnerability and how Rule 35/32 reports fit into a larger system:

Further information on Rule 35

Rule 35 of Detention Centre Rules and Rule 32 of Short-term Holding Facility Rules aim ‘to ensure that particularly vulnerable detainees are brought to the attention of those with direct responsibility for authorising, maintaining and reviewing detention’. These rules stipulate that healthcare staff must report to Home Office caseworkers responsible for managing and reviewing a person’s detention:

  • the likelihood of a detainee’s health being injuriously affected by continued detention
  • a suspicion that a detained person has suicidal intentions
  • concern that a detained person may have been a victim of torture

This Home Office guidance provides advice about the preparation and consideration of rule 35 and rule 32 reports. Doctors must complete rule 35 reports in IRCs. In Short-term Holding Facilities both doctors and registered nurses may complete rule 32 reports.

Mental Health and immigration detention

It is important that healthcare staff working in immigration detention are aware of the potential negative impact immigration detention can have on the mental health of immigration detainees (von Werthern et al (2018) & Bosworth, M (2016)). The limitations of immigration detention as a therapeutic environment are set out in the The Royal College of Psychiatrists “Position Statement on detention of people with mental disorders in Immigration Removal Centres”,