Asylum centre fire could spark policy U-turn

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Blaze took control as police dealt with escape

Some call it a five-star hotel, others a razor-wire prison camp

The destruction by fire of one quarter of the Government's immigration detention estate yesterday raised fears that asylum-seekers may again be housed in prisons.

Refugee support groups are also worried that Home Secretary David Blunkett may reverse a decision to close the notorious Campsfield immigration centre near Oxford. Mr Blunkett admitted last week that Campsfield was "outdated and no longer appropriate in the 21st century".

But only days after the Home Secretary announced a total overhaul of the immigration and asylum system, his plans have been dealt a devastating blow that will have wide and lasting repercussions.

Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre was the cornerstone of Mr Blunkett's plans to increase the removal of failed asylum-seekers to 30,000 a year.

Designed to hold 1,000 people, it increased to 2,193 the number of secure places where people could be held prior to their removal from Britain.

But the rioting at the three-month-old centre – when it was less than half-full – will raise questions over conditions and staffing across the immigration centres.

Staff at Yarl's Wood work under "unacceptable" pressures, it was claimed yesterday.

Ed Blissett, spokesman for the GMB union, said: "We have been warning of inadequate staffing levels and inadequate training that meant workers and asylum-seekers have been left in a vulnerable position."

More than 150 Yarl's Wood detainees had to be taken to other immigration centres yesterday. At least 500 of the centre's places will be lost for months at least while the charred complex is rebuilt.

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, warned the practice of jailing asylum-seekers, which Mr Blunkett ended this week, must never be brought back. She said: "Imprisoning asylum-seekers was a matter for national shame. In the week when the Government finally met its pledge to remove asylum seekers from prison, this tragedy must not be allowed to propel them back into a prison system already full beyond capacity."

The Yarl's Wood fire also threatens Home Office plans to identify sites for new removal centres.Public confidence in security at such centres will have been undermined by television pictures of the blaze and police warnings to residents to "lock windows and secure vehicles" in spite of reassurances a break-out would never happen.