Prison
Cat Charter Flight Monitoring Team
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Charter Flight Monitoring Team (CFMT)
IMB Annual Report 2021 · Published 24 June 2022
The IMB Charter Flight Monitoring Team (CFMT) report for 2021 found that while many returnees were treated with respect and efforts were made for infection control, significant concerns persisted regarding the fairness and humanity of the removal process. Key issues included prolonged in-vehicle confinement for returnees, inconsistent use of restraints, and communication gaps due to a lack of interpreters. The report also highlighted deficiencies in the provision of welfare items and information, especially for vulnerable individuals, and repeated recommendations on issues like distant airports and privacy on flights.
Positive Findings
The CFMT noted improvements in HOIE's oversight and the contractor's recording standards. Escorts generally treated returnees with dignity and respect, showing good interpersonal skills. Professional interpreters were used more frequently for European flights, and paramedics were professional and proactive in addressing healthcare needs. Quarterly meetings between the CFMT, HOIE, and the escort contractor were also found to be particularly useful.
Key Concerns
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Repeated
The CFMT recommended in each of its last three annual reports against continued use of airports distant from IRCs in the south east. The recommendation was rejected each time. This report illustrates the inhumanity of keeping returnees confined in vehicles for hours en route to the plane leaving from a distant airport.
Staffing
Rapid Response Teams (RRT) are used for charter escorting without being trained to provide the same standards of returnees’ care as the contractor’s escorts, and RRT vans lack the range of welfare items available in the contractor’s vehicles. The rationale to seat a charter returnee in the secure section of an RRT van is not transparent and not individually risk-assessed.
Resettlement/Release
Some returnees who had been transferred from prisons to an IRC for removal left the UK with funds in the form of a postal order which they could not cash at their destination.
Other
HOIE must ensure it has robust systems for notifying the escort contractor promptly of a cancelled removal, as some returnees were collected from the IRC while their legal challenges against removal were ongoing.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Repeated
Returnees continue to be confined in vehicles for hours during their journey to the plane. The practice of using airports distant from IRCs in the southeast must be discontinued and the following contributing time factors reduced to minimise the total period of confinement: time allocated to collection from IRCs, and time spent hanging around at the airport before boarding the plane.
Safety
The duration of restraints used on returnees is not individually risk-assessed, with a default position of keeping a returnee in a WRB until after the aircraft took off, even if the application was passive. This also applies to the blanket use of guiding holds.
Healthcare
Repeated
Provision of compression socks, despite a previous recommendation, was patchy due to differences of opinion around cost.
Complaints/Property
Repeated
The Person Escort Record (PER) does not consistently demonstrate satisfactory levels of recording or engagement, with omissions including the offer of a comfort break, potential access to the Chief Immigration Officer (CIO), and the possibility of having a pillow or blanket on the plane. The CFMT noted the same omissions in its last report.
Other
No professional interpreters were booked to assist at the IRC from which most of the Vietnamese returnees were collected for the April charter, leading to many non-English speakers not appearing to understand what they were being told, and communications gaps were not routinely closed by telephone interpreting services despite the need.
Equality/Diversity
Returnees were denied privacy when using the lavatory on the plane, with the door always held slightly ajar. This remains the standard approach, is not individually risk-assessed and is demeaning.
Board Commentary
Staffing
The primary escort contractor was Mitie Care & Custody Limited. Staffing was occasionally supplemented by HOIE's Rapid Response Teams (RRT), though concerns were raised about their training, welfare provision, and conduct compared to the main contractor's escorts. HOIE's oversight of the contractor improved but was still limited by available resources.
Healthcare
Healthcare services were provided by IPRS Aeromed. Significant attention was given to COVID-19 infection control, including testing, temperature checks, and face coverings, though social distancing was not always possible. Paramedics were professional and managed returnees' medical needs and medication effectively during transit. However, provision of compression socks, despite being recommended and accepted previously, remained inconsistent due to cost disagreements.
Regime & Daily Life
A significant concern remains the long periods of confinement in vehicles for returnees during transit to airports, exacerbated by the use of distant airports and extended waits. Instances included over eight hours of confinement for some individuals. Other issues include the blanket use of guiding holds and denial of privacy when using lavatories on planes, neither of which are individually risk-assessed. Some coaches used for journeys were also found to be not fit for purpose.