Government policy to blame for disturbance concludes report

The 2002 fire at the Yarl's Wood detention centre was a direct result of a "series of policy and operational decisions", an official watchdog has said.

In a report which made bleak reading for ministers, Stephen Shaw, the prisons and probation ombudsman, said the government's policy of removing asylum seekers led to the fire and disturbance at the centre.

"In brief, the story of Yarl's Wood is of an ambitious and, as things turned out, unachievable policy for the removal of failed asylum seekers," concluded Shaw.

"This meant that a building unlike any that had gone before had to be commissioned and constructed at a record pace."

Shaw went on to warn that the building was "poorly designed and not fit for purpose".

"In practice the timetable for its opening slipped virtually from day one," he added.

"Three months after it did open, an everyday incident involving a middle-aged female detainee was mishandled.

"Within a few minutes control of the centre had been lost and within a few hours half of the building had been destroyed.

"Had this not taken place at Yarl's Wood, the same potential existed 40 miles away at Harmondsworth."

The report went on to identify the "need for greater realism" about the "necessarily coercive" nature of immigration detention and removal.

Shaw also made the case for "absolute fairness and legitimacy" in immigration decision-making.