Cedars was an

immigration detention Immigration detention is the policy of holding individuals suspected of visa violations, illegal entry or unauthorized arrival, as well as those subject to deportation and removal until a decision is made by immigration authorities to grant a vi ...

facility in

Crawley Crawley () is a large town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a population of 106,597 at the time of th ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

adjacent to

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after H ...

. It was operated by

UK Visas and Immigration UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) is a division of the Home Office responsible for the United Kingdom's visa system. It was formed in 2013 from the section of the UK Border Agency that had administered the visa system. History The then Home Secret ...

with security and facilities maintenance contracted out to

G4S G4S is a British Multinational corporation, multinational private security company headquartered in London, England. The company was set up in 2004 when London-based Securicor amalgamated with Danish firm Group 4 Falck. The company offers a ran ...

and

Barnardo's Barnardo's is a British charity founded by Thomas John Barnardo in 1866, to care for vulnerable children. As of 2013, it raised and spent around £200 million each year running around 900 local services, aimed at helping these same group ...

providing

social workers Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...

and

child welfare Child protection is the safeguarding of children from violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect. Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child provides for the protection of children in and out of the home. One of the ways to e ...

services. Opened in 2011, Cedars was the first immigration detention center in the UK specifically designated for families with children. Unlike other facilities for single adults, which are essentially medium security

prisons A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...

holding immigration violators pending

deportation Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

, Cedars consisted of apartments in a more open atmosphere. As a result, the UK Border Agency has referred to the facility as pre-departure accommodation rather than immigration detention. The closing of the costly, under-used facility was announced in August 2016. It was closed permanently in December 2016.

Facility

Cedars was built around 9 individual apartments that can accommodate families of up to 6 persons. Each apartment had between 1 and 3 bedrooms, a living room, full kitchen and en-suite bathroom. Families were free to move about the interior of the facility at all times and the facility's grounds during daylight hours. They could also leave the facility with a staff escort for supervised activities. *a fitness center including a basketball court, and equipment for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and other outdoor sports *play areas for children *several lounges *a cafe and dining area - residents may either eat in the cafe or request ingredients to take back to their apartment and cook *a library including immigration law materials *a multi-faith prayer room and

Mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

*computing and internet facilities Residents also had access to organized recreational activities, healthcare, counselling, therapy, and ministerial services if needed or desired.

Controversy

*The use of

who has provided deportee escort services in the past for the UK Border Agency is not without controversy for the connection of three former employees to the death of Jimmy Mubenga in 2010.

References

External links

UK Border Agency: Pre-Departure Accommodation
G4S Immigration detention centres and prisons in the United Kingdom {{UK-gov-stub

Facility

Controversy

See also

References

External links