Demographics
Nationality
Every quarter, the government publishes its quarterly statistics [1] which include information on the nationality of individuals entering and leaving detention. Predominant nationalities change over time, reflecting wider national and international factors. As above, the number of people without a regular status (around 100,000) far exceeds the number of detention spaces in the UK (around 3,500). The result is that the nationalities of people detained is often politically influenced or can depend on the destination of a Home Office chartered flight [2].
During 2021 and 2022, the most common nationalities in detention corresponded to the predominant nationalities of people arriving via an irregular route to claim asylum (Iran, Albania, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq). However, the majority of enforced returns during this period were people from Eastern European countries. More recently people from Albania were over-represented in detention, representing one-third of people detained in 2023. Trends are regularly changing and you can visit the AVID website for more information:
If you are an AVID member, login to view our recent training session on the rise in inflammatory discourse and restrictive immigration policies against the Albanian community.
Visit our Knowledge Hub to find Facts and Figures on detention.
People detained under immigration powers may have disputed nationality; no way of proving their claimed nationality; their nationality cannot be easily determined or they may be stateless. The inability to confirm nationality and to obtain travel documents for removal are common and significant reasons for lengthy periods of detention, especially if the Home Office takes the view that a person is refusing to cooperate with their redocumentation.
All of this is to say that visitor groups may meet with people from as many as one hundred nationalities in the centre they visit in any one year.
Gender
For many years, women have made up around 10% of the IRC population and men around 90%, according to Home Office detention statistics. Women are held in Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre (IRC), Yarl’s Wood IRC, Dungavel IRC, at the Sahara Unit in Colnbrook IRC, and in family accommodation at Tinsley House IRC if they are part of a family with children. Derwentside IRC is the only centre that is solely used to detain women. Women and men are also detained at STHFs and STHRs in mixed gender provisions, and both men and women may be detained in prisons at the end of their custodial sentence pending removal or deportation.
There are specific gendered harms of immigration detention due to experiences of domestic and sexual violence being common amongst women in detention and the increased risk detention presents of re-traumatisation. Women for Refugee Women's recent research showed that the majority of asylum-seeking women who are detained are survivors of rape and other forms of gender-based violence, including domestic violence, forced marriage, female genital cutting, and sexual exploitation [3].
The Home Office does not monitor and publish statistics on the number of LGBTQI+ people it detains, despite calls from the sector for it to do so. However, in response to a Freedom of Information request from Rainbow Migration, the Home Office confirmed that at least 129 LGBTQI+ people had been held in the detention estate in 2022.
Age
Usually people in detention will be between the ages of 18-50 with the highest recorded age group category in recent years being 18-29.
There is no upper age limit on immigration detention in the UK and you might meet people older than this. However The Home Office Adults at Risk policy does state that being over the age of 70 is a risk indicator.
In 2022, 5 people entered detention over the age of 70 and 684 people entered detention between the ages of 50-69. Older people in detention are not necessarily ill or frail, but if they are it is likely that their health and social care needs will not be met in detention. Disability aids may be hard to obtain, and disability access, for example to the dining room, is reportedly difficult in some IRCs. Visitors may be able to provide assistance with challenging these problems.
You might also meet children in detention. As explained in the previous section, the introduction of reforms in the Immigration Act 2014 led to a significant reduction in the number of children detained. Detention of children takes place at a family unit at Tinsley House IRC, at STHFs and at ports and airports. However, this is threatened to change with the introduction of the Illegal Migration Act.
You might also meet children whose age is disputed by the Home Office. AVID’s stance is to view young people who state that they are under 18 as a child and we stand against the culture of disbelief that is pervasive within detention settings. However, we recognise that many of the usual statutory referral routes will not be open to these individuals. The Refugee Council runs The Age Disputes project which takes referrals from organisations that work and visit in IRCs, solicitors, or anyone else who believes that a detained person looks under 18 or is claiming to be under 18. Where a case is taken on by Refugee Council, the aim is to ensure the child gets a professional recognised age assessment from a local authority, and is released from detention as soon as possible. You should check with the coordinator of your visitor group for the group’s procedure on notification of age disputed cases.
Criminalisation
Of the numbers of people detained at any one time, around 20-40% have a criminal conviction. As described in the previous section, the reasons for this are often closely tied to immigration factors. Some of these people will be held under immigration powers in prisons. You can read more about this in the Chapter Immigration detention in the prison estate .
Whether or not the person you visit has an offending history will make a practical difference to how you might help them get released from detention, and any restrictions on their release address. Neither the Home Office nor the First-Tier Tribunal have particularly nuanced approaches to offending behaviour compared to agencies and courts in the criminal justice system, and an offending history can make it harder for people to get released from detention. It is important to be aware of this for this reason. It is also important to keep in mind that - as a network - we challenge hierarchies in our immigration system that create ideas of who does and doesn’t deserve to belong. We are inclusive of our support to people in immigration detention and do not discriminate on the basis of previous sentences served (AVID Members Charter).
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