A man has died in detention at an immigration removal centre near Gatwick airport, Serco confirmed.
The security company, which manages and operates the Brook House detention centre in West Sussex, said a 26-year-old man died on Sunday. The Home Office said their condolences are with the man’s family and friends.
It comes almost a year after a 37-year-old Albanian man died after attempting suicide in November 2023 while he was being detained at Brook House. A public inquiry into the detention centre concluded people had been subjected to abuse.
The inquiry found there had been 19 incidents of mistreatment against detainees over a five-month period in 2017. The government has been criticised over its reaction to the inquiry, with the chair, Kate Eves – appointed by the then-Conservative government to lead the probe – calling in September for a “reset” on an “inadequate” response to her recommendations.
A Brook House spokesperson said: “We can confirm the death of a 26-year-old man at Brook House yesterday.”
The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, Adrian Usher, said that an investigation into the death would be carried out.
The Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group, which supports detainees at Brook House, said “no one should take their last breath” at the centre. Paying tribute to the man who died, the charity said on X: “On the death of a man in detention yesterday we send heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and everyone who knew and loved him.
“Brook House is prison architecture and no one should take their last breath there. We mourn that a young man died before he could be free.”
Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s refugee and migrant rights director, said: “We despair at reports that yet another person has died in the Brook House detention centre. Our hearts go out to his family, friends and the fellow detainees affected by this tragedy too.
“Brook House has gained notoriety for violence, racism and abuse. What part this may have in this man’s death we do not yet know, but these degradations derive from a wider failure to make a system respect human dignity and rights.
“Tragic incidents such as this emphasise why the government must bring humanity to the immigration system as much as any other policy area – people’s lives depend on it.”
Medical Justice, which works with vulnerable people in immigration detention, called immigration removal centres “dangerous”.
The charity made reference to Frank Ospina who died last March while he was being detained at Colnbrook immigration removal centre, in West Drayton, Middlesex, pending his removal to Colombia. A jury at an inquest into his death found that he had died by suicide.
Medical Justice said: “Brook House inquiry found clinical safeguards in detention to be ‘dysfunctional’ and the systemic failures are ongoing.
“Just a matter of days ago, in response to the inquest into the suicide in immigration detention of Frank Ospina following a catalogue of failings in his care, the Home Office claimed that it has taken a number of actions to improve the safeguards for individuals in detention.
“Medical Justice has little confidence this is the case as we have seen no improvement in safety in detention following many such assurances over the years.”
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie
