0:00:02 > 0:00:04This programme contains strong language from the start
0:00:04 > 0:00:07and scenes which some viewers may find disturbing.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13My name's Callum Tulley. Two years ago I was just another lad
0:00:13 > 0:00:16trying to work out what to do with the rest of my life.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20SHOUTING AND WHISTLING
0:00:22 > 0:00:25Oi, lads, lads. Oi, get off him.
0:00:30 > 0:00:34Then I got a job here. At a place you've probably never heard of.
0:00:34 > 0:00:35Brook House.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44It's an immigration removal centre, although it looks and feels
0:00:44 > 0:00:46more like a prison.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53I thought I'd be helping people facing deportation.
0:00:57 > 0:00:58They're here to help you.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00'But I couldn't have been more wrong.'
0:01:03 > 0:01:06MAN SOBS
0:01:06 > 0:01:08From the start, I was confronted with
0:01:08 > 0:01:11drug abuse, self-harm and suicide attempts.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21I saw some foreign criminals,
0:01:21 > 0:01:23fresh out of prison, terrorising
0:01:23 > 0:01:25asylum seekers who had never been inside.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30And I saw some staff abusing men locked up here.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37I didn't complain. I didn't think anyone would listen.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46Instead, I put on secret cameras for the BBC.
0:01:54 > 0:01:56I'm so angry. I don't know how people can
0:01:56 > 0:01:58get away with things like that.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00This is my story of life on the front line
0:02:00 > 0:02:03of the UK's fight to control immigration.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05HE SOBS
0:02:17 > 0:02:20I never intended to be an undercover reporter.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26All I've ever wanted to be is a football referee.
0:02:29 > 0:02:30No, this way...
0:02:30 > 0:02:33But straight out of school - I needed a job.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36Me and my mum were looking for jobs at home and she spotted
0:02:36 > 0:02:39a vacancy available at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre.
0:02:42 > 0:02:43Went for the job and got it.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50I became a detainee custody officer
0:02:50 > 0:02:53and Brook House, tucked away behind Gatwick Airport,
0:02:53 > 0:02:55was a different world.
0:02:59 > 0:03:04I was literally just a normal 18-year-old and after a few months
0:03:04 > 0:03:08of working within the centre, I witnessed some things that probably
0:03:08 > 0:03:11most 18-year-olds wouldn't have witnessed.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16Just experienced a complete toxic atmosphere.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20It's changed me from being a young naive boy,
0:03:20 > 0:03:27not really much understanding of human suffering, into someone who
0:03:27 > 0:03:29just witnesses it first-hand
0:03:29 > 0:03:33and in probably some of the most horrific ways.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37SHOUTING AND SWEARING
0:03:41 > 0:03:45A year into the job, I told the BBC what I'd seen
0:03:45 > 0:03:46and became a whistle-blower.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01SHOUTING AND BANGING
0:04:19 > 0:04:22Brook House is built like a prison and holds around 500 male detainees.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28More than half are seeking asylum or have overstayed visas.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32The others are foreign criminals
0:04:32 > 0:04:35transferred here after finishing prison sentences.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47Trouble can erupt in seconds...
0:04:50 > 0:04:51..over the smallest thing.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03The men here all face being removed or deported by the Home Office.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08Most don't know how long they'll have to stay.
0:05:15 > 0:05:20You've got hardline criminals who've committed some really serious
0:05:20 > 0:05:26offences and then you've got people in there who have come over from
0:05:26 > 0:05:29places like Sudan, Syria and
0:05:29 > 0:05:32Eritrea, who are seeking asylum in the country.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34How are you?
0:05:34 > 0:05:36They can all be locked up together across the five wings...
0:05:36 > 0:05:40Just got to relax, yeah? Don't panic.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43..because the Home Office doesn't insist on segregation.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45The contrast between
0:05:45 > 0:05:49the asylum seekers and the migrants to the hardline criminals...
0:05:50 > 0:05:53They do swarm like sharks around small fish.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57They just get eaten alive. Just snapped up like that.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59LAUGHTER
0:06:10 > 0:06:15In Brook House, you can be put with any criminal in the same room.
0:06:15 > 0:06:21Guys were, like, fighting with each other. Banging their doors.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24Screaming and shouting and swearing.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32And you can't do anything, just stay inside your room.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41Alif Jan has been detained three times
0:06:41 > 0:06:43since his student visa ran out.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45He's now living in Birmingham, applying for asylum.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00He was a doctor in Pakistan.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03And he was working as a trainee audiologist at a hospital in London.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09I felt like I'm a criminal without any crime.
0:07:10 > 0:07:12Your mind is thinking,
0:07:12 > 0:07:14"What will happen to me?
0:07:14 > 0:07:19"What will be the outcome?" And - why I'm here.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22SHOUTING
0:07:22 > 0:07:26It shouldn't be like this. The rules governing removal centres say
0:07:26 > 0:07:29they should provide secure but humane accommodation,
0:07:29 > 0:07:30in a relaxed, safe environment.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36At Brook House, which is managed for the government
0:07:36 > 0:07:38by the multinational company G4S,
0:07:38 > 0:07:41detainees are let down right from the start.
0:07:43 > 0:07:48On the first night, it feels to me like someone is coming
0:07:48 > 0:07:51to kill me. I couldn't sleep.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54My sleep was disturbed throughout the night.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01The induction is in B wing, where detainees spend
0:08:01 > 0:08:04the first few nights in Brook House.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08They can be some of the toughest times for new detainees, especially
0:08:08 > 0:08:10if they've never spent any time in prison before.
0:08:12 > 0:08:13The induction wing is supposed
0:08:13 > 0:08:15to help detainees adapt to life inside.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21Instead, they're confronted by drugs...
0:08:27 > 0:08:29..and violent ex-offenders.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40A quick look at the list of detainees on the wing
0:08:40 > 0:08:41shows exactly what's going wrong.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53He was plucking out each card of
0:08:53 > 0:08:58detainees that were involved in the drug and gang culture of Brook House
0:08:58 > 0:09:01and he picked out at least eight detainees.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04Then, what? Then, what? Then, what, big man?
0:09:04 > 0:09:07Drug dealers and new arrivals all mixed up together.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32Some of my fellow officers asked management to move the drug dealers
0:09:32 > 0:09:33off the induction wing,
0:09:33 > 0:09:36but when I check a month later, more dealers have arrived.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55G4S says, with the knowledge of the Home Office, the induction wing is
0:09:55 > 0:09:58used, when required, to hold detainees from other wings.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13Drugs are everywhere in Brook House, not just on the induction wing.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22HE WAILS
0:10:29 > 0:10:31HE WAILS AND SOBS
0:10:31 > 0:10:35Spice, the chemical alternative to cannabis, is the drug of choice.
0:10:37 > 0:10:38It's cheap and can be deadly.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51There's a Spice epidemic in Brook House right now.
0:10:51 > 0:10:53I'm just sick of seeing
0:10:53 > 0:10:56this stuff all the time now. I've been seeing this shit for the last
0:10:56 > 0:10:57two years, just constantly.
0:11:00 > 0:11:01So frustrating to watch, when you're
0:11:01 > 0:11:03watching it week after week.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28I don't have any hope.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32We see only worried faces every day.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34For detainees who don't take drugs,
0:11:34 > 0:11:36it just adds to the fear of detention.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45Harshad Purohit was a student and care worker in the UK
0:11:45 > 0:11:48and was detained after his visa ran out.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54He's very timid. He's extremely polite.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57I just want to go up, put my arm round him and tell him
0:11:57 > 0:12:00it's going to be fine, even though I don't really know that it will be.
0:12:07 > 0:12:09He's now back in India.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13He was removed from the UK after nine months in detention.
0:12:13 > 0:12:14In Brook House,
0:12:14 > 0:12:17there too much stress and taking drugs.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20I have seen so many
0:12:20 > 0:12:26people there, they are suffering the health problems with Spice.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30There's the effect of drugs.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34They can do anything. They're going too crazy.
0:12:35 > 0:12:41These drugs are banned and I just don't understand it's selling
0:12:41 > 0:12:42in this Brook House.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50One officer tells me drugs are coming in through the visits hall.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08She says many officers aren't taking it seriously.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43G4S says it has a range of measures to monitor the visits hall and has
0:13:43 > 0:13:44an extensive training programme
0:13:44 > 0:13:47to deal with new psychoactive substances like Spice.
0:13:52 > 0:13:54Staff seem overstretched.
0:13:56 > 0:13:57Hello.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00The wings are often run with the minimum number of officers
0:14:00 > 0:14:02allowed by the Home Office.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06The general morale among officers is pretty poor.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09There's often two officers just left to one wing,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12got to deal with over 100 detainees.
0:14:20 > 0:14:21It affects the detainees massively
0:14:21 > 0:14:23because there's just not enough staff.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28And as a result, things are rushed.
0:14:32 > 0:14:34Roll count is called incorrect.
0:14:34 > 0:14:36This causes the detainees to be unlocked from their cells
0:14:36 > 0:14:38late, more time in their cells.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49And it just adds to what is already a very hostile environment.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00All the detainees were eventually accounted for.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
0:15:04 > 0:15:06In Brook House, if you
0:15:06 > 0:15:09are, like, a nice person, very cool-minded,
0:15:09 > 0:15:11you will become aggressive
0:15:11 > 0:15:15because you are facing aggressive things most of the time.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17Shut up!
0:15:17 > 0:15:20The behaviour of the guys there...
0:15:21 > 0:15:24And the behaviour of the staff there...
0:15:24 > 0:15:26These are the two worst things.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36This is one of my bosses, detainee custody manager Nathan Ring.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50MAN WAILS AND CHANTS
0:15:51 > 0:15:54An Iranian detainee is out of it on Spice.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01MAN CHANTS
0:16:05 > 0:16:07It's a medical response
0:16:07 > 0:16:10and my manager should be taking it seriously.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12CHANTING CONTINUES
0:16:12 > 0:16:13LAUGHTER
0:16:24 > 0:16:28Nathan makes these situations a lot worse. He encourages staff to laugh,
0:16:28 > 0:16:33he leads the way with the taunts and the mocking.
0:16:45 > 0:16:50Some of the officers and managers, I don't know if that is their way of
0:16:50 > 0:16:53coping with the bleakness of Brook House or if it's because they hate
0:16:53 > 0:16:57the detainees and don't care what sort of state they're in.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14I hear about a new arrival who officers think was forced to test
0:17:14 > 0:17:16a batch of Spice by his roommate.
0:17:22 > 0:17:23This is the roommate.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26He has a reputation for violence.
0:17:53 > 0:17:55This is the suspected drugs guinea pig.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57I'm told his passport says he is 18.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16G4S guidelines say the company's duty director and the Home Office
0:18:16 > 0:18:20must be told by staff if a detainee claims they are under 18.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52After nearly two weeks at Brook House, the boy is removed
0:18:52 > 0:18:54into the care of social services.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01The psalms could be seen as a critique of
0:19:01 > 0:19:05institutions that just don't listen.
0:19:05 > 0:19:10Move forward a few thousand years and what's changed?
0:19:12 > 0:19:15Nathan Ward became a priest two years ago.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17He used to be a senior manager for G4S.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19The Lord be with you.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22I show him my footage.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32What you have there is a child in an adult prison,
0:19:32 > 0:19:34to all intents and purposes.
0:19:34 > 0:19:41We stopped doing that... erm, gosh, over 100 years ago.
0:19:41 > 0:19:48One of the detainees allegedly was used as a guinea pig to test Spice.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52This is...child abuse, isn't it?
0:19:53 > 0:19:56When Nathan Ward worked for the company, he wrote
0:19:56 > 0:19:58guidelines on how to deal with
0:19:58 > 0:20:00detainees suspected of being under 18.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06Everyone has failed in this circumstance. The immigration
0:20:06 > 0:20:11officer picking him up - because the policy is very clear, that if they
0:20:11 > 0:20:16suspect him to be under 18, they need to take action at that point.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20The reception need to take action, who admit him into the centre,
0:20:20 > 0:20:23the staff on the wings need to take action,
0:20:23 > 0:20:26the Home Office needs to take action.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29Everyone has failed this child.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31The Home Office says his age
0:20:31 > 0:20:35is in dispute, so policy on handling these cases hasn't been breached.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37G4S says it can't comment on specific cases
0:20:37 > 0:20:42but any age concerns are raised with the Home Office and social services.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49Mate! What's that about?
0:20:51 > 0:20:54Three years ago, Nathan Ward raised concerns about the behaviour
0:20:54 > 0:20:56of some staff at Brook House
0:20:56 > 0:20:59with the managing director for G4S Detention Services.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03The vast majority were good, decent people
0:21:03 > 0:21:07but there was a group that actually concerned me,
0:21:07 > 0:21:10on their relationships with detainees.
0:21:10 > 0:21:14It was around language that they used,
0:21:14 > 0:21:16a sense of roughness and the use of force,
0:21:16 > 0:21:18how force was used.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22Body of Christ keep you in eternal life.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25After working for G4S for nearly 13 years,
0:21:25 > 0:21:27he resigned in 2014.
0:21:29 > 0:21:34I left working there because, to all intents and purposes,
0:21:34 > 0:21:37I couldn't cope with it any more, it's as simple as that.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49This detainee, who we're calling Abbas, is 20 years old
0:21:49 > 0:21:51and originally from Egypt.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55He's just been transferred from prison.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00I'm told he has a conviction for assault.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04He's on suicide watch after trying to self-harm.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07An officer called Calvin is sitting in his room.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25CCTV cameras monitor Brook House but not inside detainees' rooms.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30Calvin later tells me what he got up to when no-one was watching.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53He's telling me how he banged the detainee's head
0:22:53 > 0:22:55and bent his fingers back.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11Calvin just openly confessed to assaulting detainees, in front of
0:23:11 > 0:23:16officers. And it is so commonplace that it doesn't get challenged,
0:23:16 > 0:23:19no-one really bats an eyelid.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33LAUGHTER
0:23:40 > 0:23:43This officer, hoping Abbas will swing, later told Panorama
0:23:43 > 0:23:45he denies any wrongdoing.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52Across the UK, there are 11 immigration removal centres,
0:23:52 > 0:23:55which every year detain around 30,000 people.
0:23:55 > 0:23:57The majority for less
0:23:57 > 0:24:00than 28 days, but last year
0:24:00 > 0:24:02more than 200 people were held for over a year.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08The immigration centres were originally designed as
0:24:08 > 0:24:10merely short-term holding centres.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14Unfortunately the procedures have got so longwinded,
0:24:14 > 0:24:19and the Home Office cannot get down to a quick day-to-day processing,
0:24:19 > 0:24:25and as a result people are held in these centres for months and years.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31G4S has been paid more than £100 million by the Home Office
0:24:31 > 0:24:35to run Brook House, since it opened in 2009.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39Back then, it was only meant to hold detainees for up to 72 hours.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45I've met detainees who have been detained for years.
0:24:50 > 0:24:52It can be desperate.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06I thought, I'm going to get deported straightaway when my
0:25:06 > 0:25:08sentence get finished.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11People start telling me, I may get transferred to the detention centre.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17Mustapha Zitouni came to the UK on a false passport and was
0:25:17 > 0:25:20transferred to Brook House after finishing a prison sentence for
0:25:20 > 0:25:23theft, assault and possessing drugs.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27He was deported back to Algeria three months ago.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34The detention was worse than prison. In detention centre,
0:25:34 > 0:25:37you never know how long you are going to be - one day,
0:25:37 > 0:25:39one year, or three or four years.
0:25:39 > 0:25:40It is the waiting game,
0:25:40 > 0:25:42the worst, the killer,
0:25:42 > 0:25:43the waiting game, man.
0:25:43 > 0:25:45That's what they do in detention.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50He waited for 11 months
0:25:50 > 0:25:52before being told to get ready to leave.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57I was really happy, I was
0:25:57 > 0:25:59really happy, I prepare everything.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02My flight was seven o'clock in the morning.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04It is seven, they came to me,
0:26:04 > 0:26:07"Oh, sorry, your flight has been cancelled
0:26:07 > 0:26:13"because the Algerian embassy did not provide the travel document."
0:26:13 > 0:26:19I was expected to get free that day and see my people and my family.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21Now I have to go and protest.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25I filmed him staging his protest on netting
0:26:25 > 0:26:26designed to prevent suicides.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31He thought he was going home.
0:26:31 > 0:26:32He has razor blades.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57A lot of people had sympathy for this guy because he's happy to go
0:26:57 > 0:27:00back. He's on the netting and he's protesting. He's got razor blades
0:27:00 > 0:27:03and is a risk to staff and himself.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07Staff aren't allowed on the netting
0:27:07 > 0:27:09unless a detainee is in immediate danger.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15A specialist team, called the Nationals,
0:27:15 > 0:27:17is called in to get him down.
0:27:24 > 0:27:26They used a spray to subdue him.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31The next day, Mustapha is calmer but still frustrated.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48Yeah, I know what you're saying. I know what you're saying.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52Mustapha had expected to be deported as soon as he finished his sentence.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54Deportation straight from prison
0:27:54 > 0:27:57was suggested to the Home Office nearly 20 years ago.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03I recommended when anyone was sentenced to be deported,
0:28:03 > 0:28:07that that deportation should be processed while they were in prison,
0:28:07 > 0:28:10so that at the end of their prison sentence
0:28:10 > 0:28:13they were taken straight to the airport and out.
0:28:13 > 0:28:17It could be done, if ministers had willed it to be done.
0:28:17 > 0:28:18It's common sense.
0:28:20 > 0:28:21While Mustapha was on the netting,
0:28:21 > 0:28:25Brook House staff were on stand-by, ready to deal with him.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29G4S restraint trainer John is supervising.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32When I ask him for advice, he tells me to use racist language.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46We wait in a stairwell for several hours.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49One of the officers said,
0:28:49 > 0:28:52"You shouldn't be able to get away with this."
0:28:52 > 0:28:55And that was when John Connolly just went off on one.
0:29:07 > 0:29:09John was saying that if this detainee
0:29:09 > 0:29:11wasn't going to go voluntarily,
0:29:11 > 0:29:14that we drag him into this corner and we'd fuck him up.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44We don't get called in. I'm relieved they don't get the chance
0:29:44 > 0:29:46to attack Mustapha.
0:29:52 > 0:29:56Mustapha has travelled across the border from Algeria to Tunisia.
0:29:56 > 0:29:58He's agreed to meet a BBC crew.
0:30:00 > 0:30:04He doesn't know I've come to show him my undercover footage.
0:30:10 > 0:30:12- Mustapha?- Yes?
0:30:14 > 0:30:16Hey, hey, you are fucking joking!
0:30:16 > 0:30:18LAUGHTER
0:30:18 > 0:30:21- How are you doing?- What are you doing here?- I've come to see you.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25Oh, fuck. This is not G4S.
0:30:25 > 0:30:26- No, not G4S.- How are you doing, man?
0:30:26 > 0:30:27- Good to see you.- Yeah, man.
0:30:29 > 0:30:31- So, erm, when I was in Brook House...- Yeah.
0:30:32 > 0:30:36..I was wearing secret cameras, I was wearing hidden cameras.
0:30:36 > 0:30:38Unbelievable, man!
0:30:38 > 0:30:44- I remember you with suit track... - Yeah, tracksuits.- Tracksuit and,
0:30:44 > 0:30:46"You guys, you want to come to the gym, yes?"
0:30:46 > 0:30:48LAUGHTER
0:30:48 > 0:30:50- It's good to see you. - Good to see you too, man.
0:30:50 > 0:30:52After you...
0:31:01 > 0:31:03How does it make you feel knowing
0:31:03 > 0:31:06that whilst you were protesting on the netting...?
0:31:06 > 0:31:08It's not surprising anyway, you know,
0:31:08 > 0:31:10I had that shit, you know, face-to-face.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12They say it in front of me, you know what I mean?
0:31:13 > 0:31:15They treat us as animals.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18They have to watch those officers and what they're doing.
0:31:18 > 0:31:19You know what I mean?
0:31:19 > 0:31:22Not, like, just let them do what they want.
0:31:31 > 0:31:33I don't want to remember that shit, man.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36I'm lucky I'm free, man, and I feel
0:31:36 > 0:31:37sorry for guys in detentions.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46We're getting kitted up in riot gear
0:31:46 > 0:31:49for a deportation. The detainee doesn't want to go.
0:32:03 > 0:32:07I was going to be the shield officer. The person who is first in
0:32:07 > 0:32:10the cell during a restraint, he has the riot shield in hand
0:32:10 > 0:32:13and he places it onto the detainee if necessary.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18The detainee has a history of violence and a conviction
0:32:18 > 0:32:22for attempted murder. But I'm also worried about his health.
0:32:22 > 0:32:24Just to make me that little bit more nervous,
0:32:24 > 0:32:27I was told that this detainee had a number of operations
0:32:27 > 0:32:30on his heart. He had suffered from a heart attack in the past.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34Two experienced officers, called Dave and Yan, are less concerned.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48One officer said, "If he dies, he dies."
0:32:48 > 0:32:49I didn't want to kill this guy,
0:32:49 > 0:32:51I didn't want to harm this man.
0:32:51 > 0:32:53I just wanted to go in there and do the job.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16DETAINEE WAILS
0:33:16 > 0:33:18He's desperate not to be deported back to Romania.
0:33:22 > 0:33:24Such a stressful environment to be in
0:33:24 > 0:33:26because you never know what could happen.
0:33:26 > 0:33:28You fear the worst in that situation.
0:33:46 > 0:33:50I thought then that was the end of it. We'd seen the back of this guy.
0:33:50 > 0:33:55And I didn't have to worry about seeing him again. But I was wrong.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00Later that day, I see him in the visitor area.
0:34:00 > 0:34:02That's him with his back to me.
0:34:26 > 0:34:30I met other detainees in Brook House who can't be deported because
0:34:30 > 0:34:34they're challenging Home Office attempts to make them leave.
0:34:34 > 0:34:36It can take a long time.
0:34:36 > 0:34:38Some of their cases are difficult to resolve.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56This detainee, who we're calling Paul, came to the UK when he was six
0:34:56 > 0:35:00and doesn't want to be deported to Somalia, where he was born.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14His permission to stay in the UK was revoked when he was convicted
0:35:14 > 0:35:15of burglary and drug offences.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36The UK is the only country in the European Union
0:35:36 > 0:35:39which doesn't put a specific time limit on immigration detention.
0:35:42 > 0:35:44Some people are being held for years.
0:35:44 > 0:35:46Should there be an end?
0:35:46 > 0:35:49Yes, for everyone. I mean, it's
0:35:49 > 0:35:53either staying here or going home. There's got to be an end. You can't
0:35:53 > 0:35:55keep people in detention forever.
0:36:00 > 0:36:02- You getting your hair cut?- No!
0:36:03 > 0:36:05All detainees can apply for bail,
0:36:05 > 0:36:08so they can fight their cases outside detention.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12The remaining detainee with heart problems, who wasn't deported,
0:36:12 > 0:36:13has a hearing tomorrow.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25Two days later, I go to his room.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27Oh, jeez. Oh, my days.
0:36:30 > 0:36:32- Oh, look at his clothes! - Yeah, I know.
0:36:33 > 0:36:35I went into this cell...
0:36:35 > 0:36:38and there was blood all over the floor,
0:36:38 > 0:36:41over the bedsheets, over the shower curtains.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44In the corner of his room, there was just blood-soaked clothes
0:36:44 > 0:36:46just lying there.
0:36:46 > 0:36:49His bail application had been refused.
0:36:50 > 0:36:52Really?
0:36:58 > 0:36:59No way?
0:37:00 > 0:37:02What?
0:37:15 > 0:37:17I speak to the detainee after he comes out of hospital.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27Stick your arm out, let me see, let me see.
0:37:28 > 0:37:29Shit.
0:37:31 > 0:37:32Oh, jeez.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46He's committed some horrific crimes, he isn't a nice guy,
0:37:46 > 0:37:48but we're in a situation where staff are literally having
0:37:48 > 0:37:54to drag him to an airport, where he ends up coming back from anyway.
0:37:54 > 0:37:57He applies for bail, he self-harms.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59It's twisting him up on the way,
0:37:59 > 0:38:02staff are becoming disturbed as a result of his actions.
0:38:03 > 0:38:05Paul, the detainee who was born in Somalia,
0:38:05 > 0:38:08has just been told he's about to be transferred
0:38:08 > 0:38:09to another removal centre.
0:38:10 > 0:38:11He snaps.
0:38:24 > 0:38:25Staff rush him.
0:38:30 > 0:38:32He's moved later the same day.
0:38:32 > 0:38:34I don't know what will happen to him.
0:38:34 > 0:38:35Want to take a seat?
0:38:40 > 0:38:43I show my footage to a psychiatrist, who's a leading specialist
0:38:43 > 0:38:45in the effects of detention.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51It's, from a clinical point of view, not at all surprising that
0:38:51 > 0:38:57this man is enormously distressed by the length and indefiniteness
0:38:57 > 0:39:03of his detention. The chances of not being adversely affected
0:39:03 > 0:39:08mentally by prolonged and indefinite detention are very low.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15At Brook House last year, there were 53 cases of detainees
0:39:15 > 0:39:17needing medical treatment for self-harm.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23There are another 451 who are detainees judged to be at risk
0:39:23 > 0:39:24of hurting themselves.
0:39:25 > 0:39:30Detainees very often talk about that notion of being somewhere
0:39:30 > 0:39:35where you are confined, where you have very little control,
0:39:35 > 0:39:38very little choice over anything, over what happens in your day.
0:39:38 > 0:39:44That lack of control, I think, is an important part of the distress
0:39:44 > 0:39:47that leads to worsening mental health.
0:39:51 > 0:39:53It's lunchtime.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56I have to make sure all the detainees have eaten.
0:39:56 > 0:39:57I have a checklist to tick.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02This detainee hadn't eaten his lunch, so I went to his room
0:40:02 > 0:40:05to ask him, you know, "Why haven't you eaten?"
0:40:13 > 0:40:18He was refusing to eat because he wasn't happy about
0:40:18 > 0:40:20being in Brook House.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24Refusing food is one way the men at Brook House protest
0:40:24 > 0:40:26about their detention.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30Last year, 316 cases were recorded.
0:40:30 > 0:40:32I think it could be more than that.
0:40:37 > 0:40:41I'm on duty again with detainee custody manager Nathan Ring.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44I tell him the detainee won't eat.
0:40:56 > 0:40:59He tells me to say the man has eaten, when he hasn't.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03The recording of food refusal ought to be
0:41:03 > 0:41:06the start of finding out a bit more.
0:41:06 > 0:41:11It's extremely serious because food refusal may be indicative of
0:41:11 > 0:41:16poor mental health and it may cause deteriorating physical health,
0:41:16 > 0:41:18in extreme form, even be fatal.
0:41:20 > 0:41:22Later, I'm still worried, so I raise it again.
0:41:39 > 0:41:44I think with a lot of officers, you do see them become desensitised.
0:41:44 > 0:41:46Because it just becomes the norm.
0:41:46 > 0:41:51It's something you do and you witness every single day at work.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55People can't cope and hand in their notice, but others,
0:41:55 > 0:41:58they do become immune to the pain and suffering that they see,
0:41:58 > 0:42:02and then some actually turn to the other side
0:42:02 > 0:42:04and actually take part in the abuse.
0:42:14 > 0:42:17An officer is shouting at a detainee who has mental health problems.
0:42:21 > 0:42:24This is E wing, where vulnerable detainees can be held in rooms
0:42:24 > 0:42:28on their own. They should be closely monitored and given support.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47The detainee is so ill that he was taken to a psychiatric hospital
0:42:47 > 0:42:50two days later and sectioned.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53The Home Office says, "Policies introduced last year
0:42:53 > 0:42:56"strengthen the presumption against detention for particularly
0:42:56 > 0:42:59"vulnerable people, whilst improving the diagnosis and treatment
0:42:59 > 0:43:01"of mental health conditions."
0:43:12 > 0:43:14The detainee who's shouting is on medication
0:43:14 > 0:43:15and has threatened to harm himself.
0:43:17 > 0:43:18It's a stressful situation.
0:43:19 > 0:43:21Oh, fuck's sake, man.
0:43:27 > 0:43:29But that's no excuse for how the officers treat him.
0:43:45 > 0:43:48The people behaving in this way seem to be attributing
0:43:48 > 0:43:53his behaviour to wanting to annoy them, rather than entertaining
0:43:53 > 0:43:55the possibility that it might be
0:43:55 > 0:43:57because of the underlying mental illness.
0:44:01 > 0:44:05They are going to punish him, they're going to show their contempt
0:44:05 > 0:44:11for him. That is extremely bad for anyone, but it's even worse
0:44:11 > 0:44:13for someone that they know is mentally ill.
0:44:21 > 0:44:24There's an emergency on A wing.
0:44:24 > 0:44:26A detainee's tried to kill himself.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15Seeing things like this is upsetting for detainees and officers.
0:45:16 > 0:45:20The first attempted suicide I was called to stays with me to this day.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25I went to bed that night and didn't sleep.
0:45:25 > 0:45:30And then nightmares start to happen, it replays back in your mind.
0:45:30 > 0:45:33I was signed off with a stress-related disorder
0:45:33 > 0:45:35for about two and a half weeks.
0:45:36 > 0:45:41When you know you're a cog in the machine that has made
0:45:41 > 0:45:44him feel that level of desperation, the impact that you're having
0:45:44 > 0:45:46on the lives of these people...
0:45:47 > 0:45:49..it is difficult.
0:45:53 > 0:45:54Yeah.
0:46:01 > 0:46:04I'm back on E wing, where vulnerable detainees can be held.
0:46:07 > 0:46:09I see Abbas, the 20-year-old Egyptian
0:46:09 > 0:46:12who an officer told me earlier he'd abused.
0:46:21 > 0:46:23He's got something round his neck.
0:46:26 > 0:46:28ABBAS GULPS AND STRUGGLES FOR BREATH
0:46:28 > 0:46:30That sound is Abbas choking.
0:46:35 > 0:46:37Get down, mate, get down.
0:47:13 > 0:47:15It's a mobile phone battery.
0:47:22 > 0:47:26Detainee custody manager Nathan Ring is on scene.
0:47:29 > 0:47:31Another opportunity to mock a detainee.
0:47:41 > 0:47:42This nurse has also been called in.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54Along with detainee custody officer, Yan Paschali.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08Manager Nathan Ring leaves me to watch Abbas.
0:48:09 > 0:48:13What happens next is the most distressing treatment of a detainee
0:48:13 > 0:48:16I see during my time undercover at Brook House.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34He's trying to strangle himself with his hands.
0:48:42 > 0:48:44Don't do it, don't do it, mate!
0:48:45 > 0:48:50Yan comes in to help and holds his head to my left.
0:48:50 > 0:48:53ABBAS BREATHES HEAVILY
0:48:58 > 0:48:59ABBAS SCREAMS
0:48:59 > 0:49:01Relax!
0:49:08 > 0:49:12Yan basically stuck both of his fingers into his neck
0:49:12 > 0:49:14and he was pushing so, so hard, I could hear the detainee
0:49:14 > 0:49:16trying to gasp for breath.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20ABBAS WHIMPERS
0:49:20 > 0:49:22I actually thought Yan was going to kill him.
0:49:22 > 0:49:24I said to Yan, "Yan, easy, easy."
0:49:39 > 0:49:42ABBAS SCREAMS
0:49:46 > 0:49:50After the violence, more mocking.
0:49:50 > 0:49:52ABBAS CRIES HYSTERICALLY
0:50:05 > 0:50:07Other officers monitor him. I'd seen enough.
0:50:15 > 0:50:16Just angry.
0:50:24 > 0:50:26HE SOBS
0:50:30 > 0:50:32So angry.
0:50:46 > 0:50:47Just that place is...
0:50:50 > 0:50:52I don't know how people can get away with things like that.
0:50:55 > 0:50:56HE SOBS
0:51:08 > 0:51:12You've got in one sense a perfect storm here, haven't you?
0:51:12 > 0:51:15You've got a physical restraint going on,
0:51:15 > 0:51:18which is dangerous in itself,
0:51:18 > 0:51:21you've got a nurse who just thinks the man is an arse
0:51:21 > 0:51:25and you've got a member of staff strangling him.
0:51:25 > 0:51:29The risk of life is enormous. I feel sickened by it.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32People should serve a prison sentence
0:51:32 > 0:51:34for what they're doing there.
0:51:36 > 0:51:38If I hadn't been filming,
0:51:38 > 0:51:40it's possible no-one would know what had happened to Abbas.
0:51:49 > 0:51:52C&R is control and restraint and involves the permitted use of force.
0:51:59 > 0:52:04Home Office rules say the use of force should be documented, but Yan,
0:52:04 > 0:52:07the officer who could have killed Abbas, doesn't want that to happen.
0:52:16 > 0:52:18Even the nurse appears to be going along with it.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33She's reading from her notes but mentions nothing about
0:52:33 > 0:52:36the restraint, even though she'd been in the room when it happened.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46Later, in the staff room, Yan tells me I need to toughen up.
0:53:08 > 0:53:12Yan Paschali later told Panorama he couldn't think of anything
0:53:12 > 0:53:14he'd done that would get him into any trouble.
0:53:17 > 0:53:21It's too simple just to look at the individuals.
0:53:21 > 0:53:24Even though their actions are deplorable,
0:53:24 > 0:53:28we'd need to look at the people that have put these people in place
0:53:28 > 0:53:30and allowed them to do what they've done.
0:53:31 > 0:53:37I blame the Home Office for allowing G4S to get away with these excesses.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40People have got to work out what is needed
0:53:40 > 0:53:42to put a system in place
0:53:42 > 0:53:45which really can be A, humane,
0:53:45 > 0:53:47B, decent, and C, quick.
0:53:48 > 0:53:50The Home Office says the dignity
0:53:50 > 0:53:54and safety of those in its care is of the utmost importance,
0:53:54 > 0:53:56and they regularly and closely monitor Brook House.
0:53:58 > 0:54:00It says the detention of people without the right to
0:54:00 > 0:54:04remain in the UK who've refused to leave voluntarily is key to
0:54:04 > 0:54:06maintaining an effective immigration system.
0:54:08 > 0:54:10It says it's already ordered a review into the welfare
0:54:10 > 0:54:12of detainees in immigration detention.
0:54:14 > 0:54:17Ten people have been suspended as a result of my investigation.
0:54:17 > 0:54:20After Panorama contacted G4S, it said
0:54:20 > 0:54:24once it has seen my evidence, it will take appropriate action.
0:54:25 > 0:54:28It says any such behaviour is not representative of the many
0:54:28 > 0:54:30G4S colleagues who do a great job,
0:54:30 > 0:54:32often in difficult
0:54:32 > 0:54:33and challenging circumstances,
0:54:33 > 0:54:35and that it investigates all complaints
0:54:35 > 0:54:39and has confidential whistle-blowing channels for staff and detainees.
0:54:42 > 0:54:44Brook House was inspected last year
0:54:44 > 0:54:48and told it was reasonably good and making excellent progress.
0:54:48 > 0:54:50From the inside, that's not what I saw.
0:54:54 > 0:54:58I'm illegal immigrant and I shouldn't be in UK at first place.
0:54:58 > 0:55:01I don't have problem with that. Brook House, you know, they...
0:55:01 > 0:55:03I'm not saying to close it down
0:55:03 > 0:55:05because they need places like that,
0:55:05 > 0:55:08but the thing is, they have to change their policy, you know?
0:55:08 > 0:55:12That's not fair, to keep people for months and months and months.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15They have life exactly like anyone else, you know?
0:55:15 > 0:55:18To miss one day in society, you never have it back.
0:55:20 > 0:55:22Please keep prison people different
0:55:22 > 0:55:25and detention people in different centres. Please.
0:55:27 > 0:55:32If you want to detain some period, please keep very small time,
0:55:32 > 0:55:34not too much.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37I think two weeks, six maximum, but more than two weeks
0:55:37 > 0:55:39very bad for every candidate.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43I have a great fear to be detained again.
0:55:44 > 0:55:50I don't know what was the strategy to be detained and then released.
0:55:50 > 0:55:53I think immigration policy are...
0:55:53 > 0:55:56I can say it doesn't work properly.
0:55:56 > 0:55:58It should be changed.
0:56:07 > 0:56:10Nine days after he was choked by Yan Paschali,
0:56:10 > 0:56:13the Egyptian detainee is in the suicide prevention netting.
0:56:15 > 0:56:18Some staff think he's unhappy about washing up.
0:56:23 > 0:56:24But I know what he's been through.
0:56:29 > 0:56:31HE LAUGHS
0:56:35 > 0:56:38After all that, two months later,
0:56:38 > 0:56:41Abbas's roommate tells me he's now been released.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01So, it was my last day, my last shift at Brook House.
0:57:03 > 0:57:06I've waited for this moment for such a long time and I can't believe
0:57:06 > 0:57:09that I'm never going to have to go back, I genuinely can't.
0:57:17 > 0:57:20WHISTLE BLOWS
0:57:20 > 0:57:23I'll only be able to get closure from that place if we can make
0:57:23 > 0:57:27it better, if we can make a change, and change needs to happen there.
0:57:31 > 0:57:33WHISTLE BLOWS
0:57:33 > 0:57:36APPLAUSE