News
Manston Processing Facility False Imprisonment Challenge Underway (13 January 2023)
Date: 13/01/2023
Duncan Lewis is launching false imprisonment claims on behalf of people held at the Manston processing facility in Kent.
The Home Secretary placed large numbers of people including families with children in dangerous and cramped, prison-like conditions.
At one stage, up to 4,100 people were held in a facility intended for 1,600 at a maximum, including pregnant women, young children and vulnerable adults with medical conditions.
The internment caused national outrage and prompted a legal action by Duncan Lewis on behalf of a woman held at the camp, Detention Action, and the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCSU), against the Home Secretary for unlawful detention and mistreatment of people at the site.
In response to a pre-action letter issued by the firm, the Government later emptied the site and moved all the residents to new accommodation.
However, the action has sparked calls for a public inquiry and Duncan Lewis is now assessing claims for damages on behalf of former detainees.
Prior to this, hundreds of people were forced to live in tents without beds or any other furniture, where they had been forced to sleep on the ground, with no privacy, often for weeks. A family with young children was forced to sleep on flattened cardboard boxes with toilets overflowing with excrement, a lack of water for washing and no clean clothes. This amounts to mistreatment by the Government.
People should not have been kept at the Manston facility for more than 24 hours. In some cases, the Home Secretary kept people there for more than a month. Our challenge can help bring about justice and accountability for you if you were detained unlawfully at Manston, which would have happened in a combination of the following:
- In excess of statutory time limits
- In overcrowded, unhygienic and unsafe conditions that constitute inhuman or degrading treatment
- Beyond the legal powers of the Home Secretary
- Contrary to the Government’s published detention policy
- In violation of the right not to be detained arbitrarily
- In inadequate conditions with a lack of privacy, where you might have been denied telephone access to family members and lawyers
Please contact Duncan Lewis for advice if you, a family member or friend, passed through or resided at any stage at the Manston processing facility. Our expert public law team will be able assess your claim for false imprisonment and will advise you whether we can lodge a claim for damages.
The Duncan Lewis immigration and public law department is expert in all aspects of human rights, asylum and deportation law. The team has achieved significant success on behalf of its clients. It holds a distinguished position in leading bold public interest litigation, in challenging litigation and political conditions that frequently invoke common law, constitutional and human rights arguments.
The team has a broad practice representing clients in matters involving immigration; asylum and human rights and deportation matters, with a niche practice in immigration and civil liberties claimant judicial review matters.
For advice in respect of Manston, or indeed any public law or immigration matter, contact public law director Toufique Hossain via email on toufiqueh@duncanlewis.com or via telephone on 020 3114 1128.