Revealed: chaos and despair at Manston migrant centre

Self-harm, beating and forcible restraint recorded by guards

- LIZZIE DEARDEN

Asylum seekers were handcuffed and restrained after self harming in scenes of desperation and chaos at a controversial migrant processing centre, The Independent can reveal. Shocking accounts by Home Offie staff and private contractors record fights breaking out over food and overcrowding as the population at Manston climbed towards 4,000 people in October.

Documents obtained under freedom of information laws, and seen by The Independent, show how staff restrained detainees and locked them in “cell vans”, where some began self-harming, at the former military base in Kent.

Some of the conditions described by the guards include:

• Thousands of people sleeping on mats on the floor inside a makeshift marquee while being held for indefinite periods with nothing to do
• Incidents of detainees being pinned to the ground and beaten after hitting their heads against a wall
• Migrants being forcibly restrained after asking for food
• A man injured in a fight receiving “unacceptable” medical care because it was assumed he was “faking it”

The revelations come as the immigration system remains at breaking point, with more than 45,000 asylum seekers living in hotels and a record backlog of over 140,000 undecided claims.

Rishi Sunak has pledged to bring forward new legislation he claims will “stop the boats” in the coming weeks, and has continued to pursue the stalled Rwanda scheme. But critics say the government’s previously attempted “deterrents” have failed, and that it must create safe and legal alternatives to the Channel crossings.