'No one listened. Now four are dead': Shock claims over deaths of vulnerable refugees at immigration centre
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Staff at an immigration centre where four men died warned bosses lives were at risk a YEAR before the first death, explosive new
evidence reveals.
As an official investigation into the scandal is set to begin, whistleblowers today claim the mental health of detainees has been seriously neglected.
They say refugee asylum seekers at Morton Hall in Lincolnshire are driven to self-harm and the brink of suicide as
they are bullied by convicted criminals awaiting deportation – and even used to smuggle drugs around “no-go areas” in the centre.
And they tell how a cost-cutting staff shake-up a month before the first death in 2016 saw the axing of a string of mental health experts keeping watch on vulnerable detainees.
Worried Amelia Bailey, who was Morton’s Hall clinical lead for suicide and self-harm services, even wrote to her bosses about the likely result as she claims she was left to keep the dangerous ship afloat on her own.
She told us: “In my opinion my warnings fell on deaf ears – a view which was supported by the findings of the whistleblowing report.”
(Image: Alamy)
One former mental health worker at the compound emailed management telling how she warned that if nothing was done urgently someone would die. The worker also claimed patients’ needs were being wrongly assessed
Another whistleblower claims ­conditions at the centre descended into chaos in March 2015 after NHS Nottinghamshire Healthcare took over running its medical team from G4S and cut costs.
She claimed: “The NHS allowed it’s best staff to walk out the door. What was left behind was a mess. There became a culture of over-medicating detainees to keep them calm.”
Morton Hall is in the spotlight after Home Affairs Select Committee chair Yvette Cooper called for an inquiry earlier this month into the ‘removal centre’ – run by the Prison Service on behalf of the UK Borders Agency – after four men died within 11 months.
The Labour MP said: “I think we need to know what is going on and also what the Home Office is doing about it.”
In December 2016, Bal Ahmed Kabia, 49, from Sierra Leone, died at the centre. A month later Polish national Lukasz Debowski, 27, is believed to have killed himself after being refused bail. Last October Jamaican Carlington Spencer, 38, died after being taken to hospital and a 27-year-old Iraqi died in November.
(Image: PA)
Last night Amelia told how she wrote to bosses in November 2015 warning of the dangers of axing the centre’s mental health experts.
They included ex-head of healthcare Ryk Izycki, an expert in transcultural psychiatry, and wife Kate, one of the UK’s only specialists in the psychological impact of torture.
A close friend of the couple has claimed both were replaced by staff less qualified, including a learning disabilities nurse.
Amelia, 48, said her warnings to bosses “fell on deaf ears. I told them detainees were at risk but, in my opinion, they refused to listen.
“I told them the quality of mental health care had fallen since the takeover and that detainees were no longer being cared for properly.
“I was having to delay seeing people because the workload was unbelievable. Yet when I raised this in a meeting I was told I must prioritise my patients.”
The departures left Amelia struggling to cope with a huge workload in a centre which has 392 rooms spread across six residential units.
She said: “I had three men threatening suicide or seriously self-harming in one day. Many of the patients were torture victims who need specialist psychiatric care, yet I was one person trying to juggle it all.”
(Image: PA)
Amelia went sick with stress and left in May the following year. Her claims have been backed by other former ­clinical staff, including a GP.
The doctor claimed: “Before NHS Nottinghamshire took over we were never left alone with patients. But we were told this would no longer happen. Many people we dealt with had serious mental health issues, with some known to be violent. I expressed concern, but nobody listened.”
Another ex-staff member confirmed the GP’s fears of violence – and even alleged innocent asylum seekers are used as drug mules by criminals awaiting deportation after serving prison time.
The source, who asked not to be named, claimed: “There are real ­problems. Drugs are rife at Morton Hall. Searches of visitors are only carried out on a spot-check basis because it’s not a prison – it’s a detainee centre.
“Drugs are brought in during visits. At least half the detainees are awaiting deportation after serving sentences, many for violence and dangerous offences. A core are known to bully the more vulnerable residents who are ­sometimes forced to carry and deliver drugs around the centre.”
The ex-staffer, who had a high profile job within the removal centre, added: “There are ghetto-type areas run by different ethnic minorities and officers are scared to go and see what they are doing as they are known to be aggressive. Fights are commonplace and a lot of vulnerable detainees live in fear. They already have mental health issues. Many were tortured in the country they fled.”
The same concerns were highlighted in a Prison Inspection report in November 2016 which said almost four in 10 detainees felt “unsafe” amid rising violence and drug use. It also noted a “significant decline” in safety since an inspection three years earlier as “levels of violence” had increased.
(Image: Roland Leon/Sunday Mirror)
Incidents of self-harm had also risen threefold and “four detainees had narrowly escaped fatal or serious injuries”.
The report also recorded that “some risk information had been overlooked.” It added that Morton Hall had “suffered the impact of new psychoactive substances becoming available for detainees.”
A separate inquiry by the NHS in March 2016 found “no evidence of any actions deliberately intended to impact on staff and patient safety and wellbeing”.
But it found concerns “over the delay in recruiting to mental health services and the lack of understanding apparent from managers in respect of low staffing levels.”
After Carlington Spencer’s death last October, detainees wrote to a campaign group complaining about the lack of medical help on site.
They told the South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group, which has staged protests against centres: “Here detainees are 16 hours without a doctor. We only have nurses that do not meet the ­standards of a medical professional.”
Morton Hall is part of a wider problem. There were 10 deaths recorded in UK detention centres last year.
(Image: PA)
The probe into Morton Hall, near Swinderby, will be included in a Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry looking at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre, near Gatwick Airport.Last September private security contractor G4S suspended nine staff there after claims of abuse and assaults.
A Home Office spokesman said: “Detention and removal are essential parts of effective immigration controls. It is vital these controls are carried out with dignity and respect.
“The provision of 24-hour healthcare in all removal centres ensures individuals have ready access to medical ­professionals. Last year, the Independent Monitoring Board recognised Morton Hall is well run. However more must be done. We have put in place new ­strategies to reduce violence, self-harm, and the use of psychoactive substances.”
An inspection by the Care Quality Commission in March 2013 commended the healthcare provided by G4S. Its report said: “Staff received appropriate professional development.”
A spokesman for Notts Healthcare last night defended itself over the claims and said a recent inspection had found no wrong doing.