Ministers have announced that two immigration removal centres will no longer be run by the Prison Service.

The move follows a stinging attack on a similar centre made earlier this month by prisons watchdog Anne Owers.

The chief inspector of prisons condemned the "disgraceful" conditions in the immigration removal centre (IRC) attached to Lindholme prison, saying it was "locked into a Prison Service culture".

Following the publication of that report, it was announced on Tuesday that over the next 12 to 18 months the management and operational control of Haslar and Dover IRCs will transfer from the Prison Service to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND).

In addition, the IND and the Prison Service will reach agreement on the running of Lindholme IRC, with the "eventual aim that, once there is enough capacity in the immigration removal estate, Lindholme will be reinstated as a mainstream prison".

A consultation process with staff affected by the change has begun, offering the choice of redeploying to other prisons or transferring
to IND to continue working in an IRC.

Immigration minister Des Browne insisted the Prison Service had done a "good job" in running the centres.

"But it is an anomalous situation and the Prison Service and IND have been working together for several months to consider the various options for all three centres," he said.

"We have all agreed the best solution is for IND to directly manage Haslar and Dover and to have overall responsibility for these immigration removal centres.

"However, Lindholme is directly adjacent to a prison and in the long-term, when we have sufficient detention spaces, we plan that the site will once again be used as a prison.

"In the short term IND and the Prison Service will enter into an agreement to ensure clear lines of accountability."

Prisons minister Paul Goggins added that the decision would allow the Prison Service to "focus fully on its core business of managing convicted offenders and remand prisoners under its custody".