Lawyers and human rights campaigners are calling for a public inquiry into abuse and other mistreatment at Manston, the controversial Kent processing centre for small boat arrivals, after it emerged that police were investigating allegations of assault.
A legal challenge calling for a public inquiry has been launched by Duncan Lewis solicitors amid claims from asylum seekers that ill treatment was “systemic”, that staff were involved in abuse and that there were significant failures of planning and management at Manston.
Asylum seekers involved in the claim include; a young woman who said she was forced to sleep on the floor close to men she did not know in filthy and degrading conditions for 21 days; a man who said he was racially abused and badly beaten by guards; and a family with young children forced to sleep on flattened cardboard boxes with toilets overflowing with excrement, a lack of water for washing and no clean clothes.
The Guardian has received other reports of assaults at Manston. One asylum seeker claims he was attacked by guards on 8 November.
He said: “Two of them slapped me on the shoulder. It was when TV news was filming outside the fence and I was speaking to journalists. After I spoke to the reporters they locked me in something like a bus for more than 12 hours in the freezing cold. I was healthy when I came to Manston but after 15 days there I contracted diphtheria and spent a week in hospital.”
A copy of his medical records from Home Office medics at Manston seen by the Guardian, states: “Patient was assaulted by staff member yesterday and has shoulder, arm and leg pain.”
Hannah Marwood, a legal access manager at the UK charity Care4Calais, said: “The use of physical violence against vulnerable people in what is a UK government run facility is deeply shocking. We are aware of several people who were detained in Manston who have reported experience of violence from security staff, with some having their injuries recorded in medical records produced by government contractors. This violence has occurred on the government’s watch. These incidents indicate wider systemic issues and need to be investigated.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We expect high standards from all of our providers and their staff to keep those in our care safe. The safety of our officers and those arriving by small boat is our utmost priority. In the rare instances when incidents do occur, only staff trained to use force will do so. Staff receive personal safety training accredited to the College of Policing standards.
A spokesperson for Kent police said the force was “investigating a reported assault of a man at a Home Office facility in Manston on Thursday 27 October 2022. Enquiries into the incident are ongoing.
“Kent police received reports of two separate assaults which took place at Manston on 27 and 28 October 2022. Three men aged 22, 27 and 39 were arrested by officers on 29 October and were all subsequently released without charge.”
More than 100 asylum seekers who have been held at Manston for more than the 24-hour limit are understood to be bringing unlawful detention claims against the Home Office. The Home Office has quietly changed the rules about the centre. From 5 January 2023 it will be lawful to hold people for 96 hours at sites such as Manston.
