Detention in the UK – key facts
Between July 2016 and June 2017, 27,819 people were detained by the Home Office for immigration purposes.
85% of people detained during that time were male.
At the end of June 2017, nearly 3,000 people were being held in an Immigration Removal Centre.
More than half of those people had been locked up for longer than 28 days
271 people had been in an immigration detention centre for more than six months
One man had been in detention for 1,514 days – well over four years
The UK is the only country in Europe that does not have a maximum time limit on how long someone can be detained.
These key facts were taken from a briefing paper to be found on the Detention Forum website:
