Immigration Detention Statistics for 2017

The Home Office has released its statistics on immigration detention in the fourth quarter of 2017, giving the figures for the full year. During the year 2017, 27,331 people entered detention.

Other statistics of note include:

• Between October and December 2017, 6,613 people entered detention and 7,154 left. Of those leaving in that quarter, 45% (3,234) were removed from the UK, 37% (2,801) were granted temporary admission or release, <1% (52) were given leave to remain, 18% (1,300) were bailed, and less than 2% (127) left for ‘other’ reasons.

• In the full year January – December 2017, 28,244 people left detention. Of these, 12,321 (44%) were removed from the UK, 56% were therefore released from detention back in to the UK community (37% were given TA or release, <1% leave to remain, 1% other, and 14% bail).

• Half of those leaving detention in 2017 were asylum detainees.

• Of those leaving detention in 2017, 80% (22,593) were detained for less than two months, 16% (4,491) for between two and six months and 3% (935) for between six and 12 months. Of the <1% remaining (225 held over a year), 194 people had been in detention for between one and two years, 27 people for between two and three years, 3 for three to four years.

• One person was released from detention in 2017 having been detained for at least 5 years (at least 1,845 days).

• The top five countries for enforced returns were Romania (1,758), Albania (1,561), Poland (1,247), Pakistan (771) and India (744).

The Home Office also released its Immigration Enforcement Transparency Data for the final quarter of 2017.

Detention Centre Rule 35 is a mechanism which aims to ensure that particularly vulnerable detainees are brought to the attention of those with direct responsibility for reviewing their suitability for detention. This is one of the few safety measures in place to prevent the detention of vulnerable people. In the fourth quarter of 2017, 693 Rule 35 reports were made by medical practitioners in immigration detention to the Home Office. Of this number, only 15% (107 people) were then released from detention.

From June – Dec 2017, there were 1487 enforcement arrests linked to information received by the Home Office, of which 21% (317) led to an enforced return.

The average cost of detaining someone was £85.97 per day (The Government spent £523.5 million on detaining people for immigration reasons between April 2013 and March 2017).

In Q4 2017, the total number of foreign nationals completing their prison sentence was 1869, of which 1283 were detained at the end of their sentence. During this time, there were 47 foreign nationals who had now been detained for more than a year because they were awaiting a travel document.