Home Office planning to house asylum seekers in former prison

Charities say former prison that saw riots is an ‘unsuitable’ location for traumatised asylum seekers

A former prison is among the sites where the Home Office wants to place asylum seekers, despite warnings that many are “still processing trauma”.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick did not name HMP Northeye while announcing the policy, which aims to reduce the reliance on hotels to house asylum seekers, and referred to it in parliament only as a “site in East Sussex”.

The jail, on the site of a historic RAF station near Bexhill, was closed in 1992 following riots and arson by inmates.

It was later used as a training centre by the United Arab Emirates government but has been empty since 2019.

The former prison is among three new asylum accommodation sites announced by the government, which said it is also “exploring the possibility of accommodating migrants in vessels” - a policy previously ruled out on cost grounds by the Treasury.

The other two sites, which are former RAF bases in Essex and Lincolnshire, have already sparked threats of legal action from local councils.

In a joint statement on the use of HMP Northeye, Rother District Council and East Sussex County Council said local people would have “many questions about the government’s plans” to house asylum seekers at the former prison and military training centre.

The councils said they would be working to “understand and assess in more detail the impact this would have on local communities”, and “ensure the Home Office address all issues identified”.

The facility is in a rural area, a mile away from the nearest supermarket, GP surgery and other amenities.

Huw Merriman, the local Conservative MP, said he would be meeting the immigration minister on Thursday to put local concerns forward, and that he had not yet had any further information from the government.

He added: “I know that this decision will have an impact on local authorities and public services. It will also be of great concern to local residents.

“It is important that the community is fully appraised of the proposals and reassured as to the impact.”

Inside Time magazine previously reported that HMP Northeye had opened as a Category C training prison in 1969, repurposing RAF huts from a previous radar station and adding extra buildings.

Protests and riots took place at the prison, culminating in violence, arson and escapes that reportedly led to many buildings being destroyed and the jail’s closure in 1992.

The following year, the United Arab Emirates government took over the site to use for students undergoing training at different colleges in England, but that facility shut in 2019.

A Home Office spokesperson confirmed that asylum seekers would not be detained at former HMP Northeye and that any necessary refurbishment would be made to bring it up to regulatory standards.

Mary Atkinson, of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said: “It beggars belief that the government is seriously considering housing people, many who have escaped awful conditions in their own countries, in a former prison.

“Robert Jenrick says that accommodation for migrants should meet their essential living needs and nothing more, but retraumatising people who may have faced unlawful imprisonment, oppression and torture by the state by placing them in similar facilities is utterly inhumane.”

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said the plans were in the ‘public interest’ and would reduce the cost of asylum hotels (Yui Mok/PA) (PA Archive)

A spokesperson for the Refugee Council told The Independent: “A former prison is by no means an appropriate place to accommodate refugees who are still processing the trauma of the violence and persecution they've had to flee.

“Many people in the asylum system have experienced torture and abuse in prisons under brutally repressive regimes. They have come to the UK in search of safety.

“We should be providing accommodation that treats people with humanity, dignity and compassion, not prisons, barges and shipping containers.”

Clare Moseley, the founder of the Care4Calais charity, said the government had caused its own spending on asylum hotels because it “failed to process people’s asylum claims effectively and efficiently”.

“Warehousing people in barracks, cruise ships or former prisons is not only inhumane but will not stop people from crossing the Channel,” she added. “The only way to reduce channel crossings is to offer safe passage for people seeking sanctuary.”

Mr Jenrick told MPs that the new sites were “undoubtedly in the national interest”, adding: “We have to deliver them if we are to stop our use of hotels.”