The Western Heights of Dover are one of the most impressive fortifications in Britain. They comprise a series of forts, strong points and ditches, designed to protect the country from invasion. They were created in the 18th and 19th centuries to augment the existing defences and protect the key port of Dover from both seaward and landward attack; by the start of the 20th century Dover Western Heights was collectively reputed to be the 'strongest and most elaborate' fortification in the country. The Army finally withdrew from the Heights in 1956–61; they are now a local nature reserve.
Verne Citadel is a 19th-century citadel on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. Located on the highest point of Portland, Verne Hill, it sits in a commanding position overlooking Portland Harbour, which it was built to defend. It later became HM Prison The Verne in 1949.
Villawood Immigration Detention Centre, originally Villawood Migrant Hostel or Villawood Migrant Centre, split into a separate section named Westbridge Migrant Hostel from 1968 to 1984, is an Australian immigration detention facility located in the suburb of Villawood in Sydney, Australia.
Immigration detention is the policy of holding individuals suspected of visa violations, illegal entry or unauthorized arrival, as well as those subject to deportation and removal until a decision is made by immigration authorities to grant a visa and release them into the community, or to repatriate them to their country of departure. Mandatory detention refers to the practice of compulsorily detaining or imprisoning people seeking political asylum, or who are considered to be illegal immigrants or unauthorized arrivals into a country. Some countries have set a maximum period of detention, while others permit indefinite detention.
HM Prison The Verne is a Category C men's prison, located within the historic Verne Citadel, on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. Operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service, HMP The Verne was established in 1949 and occupies the southern part of the citadel. After a brief spell as an Immigration Removal Centre between 2014–17, HMP The Verne re-opened in 2018.
CoreCivic, formerly the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), is a company that owns and manages private prisons and detention centers and operates others on a concession basis. Co-founded in 1983 in Nashville, Tennessee by Thomas W. Beasley, Robert Crants, and T. Don Hutto, it received investments from the Tennessee Valley Authority, Vanderbilt University, and Jack C. Massey, the founder of Hospital Corporation of America.
Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial, usually for security reasons. Many countries use administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism or rebellion, to control illegal immigration, or to otherwise protect the ruling regime.
Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB) are statutory bodies established by the Prison Act 1952 to monitor the welfare of prisoners in the UK to ensure that they are properly cared for within Prison and Immigration Centre rules, whilst in custody and detention. Their responsibilities were extended to Immigration Removal Centres by the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 following an inspection in 1989 of what was then Harmondsworth Detention Centre.
Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre is an immigration detention facility in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, near the town of Strathaven that is also known as Dungavel Castle or Dungavel House. It is operated by the American private prison firm GEO Group, under contract with the law-enforcement command Border Force for its detention of immigrants for the Home Office. It is the only such facility in Scotland.
Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre is a detention centre for foreign nationals prior to their deportation from the United Kingdom, one of 10 such centres currently in the UK. It is located near Milton Ernest in Bedfordshire, England, and is operated by Serco, which describes the place as "a fully contained residential centre housing adult women and adult family groups awaiting immigration clearance." Its population is, and has been, overwhelmingly female.
The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO), headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that invests in private prisons and mental health facilities in North America, Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. The company's facilities include illegal immigration detention centers, minimum security detention centers, and mental-health and residential-treatment facilities. It also operates government-owned facilities pursuant to management contracts. As of December 31, 2019, the company managed and/or owned 95,000 beds at 129 facilities and provided community supervision services for more than 210,000 offenders and pretrial defendants. In 2019, agencies of the federal government of the United States generated 53% of the company's revenues.
Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre is an immigration detention facility in Harmondsworth, London Borough of Hillingdon, near London Heathrow Airport run by Mitie. Harmondsworth, which neighbours the Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre, holds around 620 men.
In Canada, the criminal legal system is divided into federal and provincial/territorial jurisdictions. Provincial/territorial correctional services are only concerned with offenders who have been sentenced for less than two years, whereas federal corrections—facilitated by Corrections Canada—is concerned with offenders who have been sentenced for two years or more.
Haslar Immigration Removal Centre was an immigration detention centre, located in Haslar, Hampshire, England. The centre was operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service. The centre closed in 2015, however the Ministry of Justice is closing the site in 2016 after promising to retaining the site for use as a prison
IRC Morton Hall is an Immigration Removal Centre located in the village of Morton Hall in Lincolnshire, England. The centre is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service, and was previously a women's prison.
HM Prison Rochester is a male Young Offenders Institution, founded in 1870, and located in the Borstal area of Rochester in Kent, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service, and is located next to HMP Cookham Wood.
Campsfield House was an immigration detention centre located in Kidlington near Oxford, England, operated by private prison firm Mitie under contract with the British government. It was the site of a number of protests from human rights campaigners and has seen a number of hunger strikes and one suicide. Protests at conditions in the prison have sparked a number of hunger strikes and disturbances. However, it was highly praised by the Chief Inspector of Prisons at the last full inspection. It closed in 2018.
The United States government holds tens of thousands of immigrants in detention under the control of Customs and Border Protection and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Immigrants are detained for unlawful entry to the United States, when their claims for asylum are received, and in the process of deportation and removal from the country. During Fiscal Year 2018, 396,448 people were booked into ICE custody: 242,778 of whom were detained by CBP and 153,670 by ICE's own enforcement operations. A daily average of 42,188 immigrants were held by ICE in that year. In addition, over twelve thousand immigrant children are housed by facilities under the supervision of the Office of Refugee Resettlement's program for Unaccompanied Alien Children. Prior to referral to these other agencies, the CBP holds immigrants at processing centers; between mid-May and mid-June 2019, it held between 14,000 and 18,000 immigrants.
Brook House Immigration Removal Centre is a privately managed detention centre, operated by Serco on behalf of Home Office. The facility is situated in the grounds of Gatwick Airport, Crawley, West Sussex.
Immigration detention in the United Kingdom is the practice of detaining foreign nationals for the purpose of immigration control. Unlike other countries within the European Union, UK provisions to detain are not outlined in a codified constitution. Instead, immigration enforcement holds individuals under Powers granted in the Immigration Act 1971 and by the Home Office Detention Centre Rules (2001). The expressed purpose of immigration detention is to "effect removal; initially to establish a person's identity or basis of claim; or [implement] where there is reason to believe that the person will fail to comply with any conditions attached to a grant of immigration bail." Detention can only lawfully be exercised under these provisions where there is a "realistic prospect of removal within a reasonable period".
