In a landmark decision in early August 2011, the British High Court has ruled that the Secretary of State for the Home Department, through the UK Border Agency, unlawfully detained a man with severe mental illness for a period of five months between April and September 2010 and that the circumstances of his detention at Harmondsworth immigration removal centre amounted to inhuman or degrading treatment in breach of article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”).
It is believed to be the first time that a UK court has found that detention at an immigration removal centre to have breached article 3 ECHR.
Read a press release regarding this decision