Idira, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
2014
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
UK
CORAM
- MR JUSTICE JAY
Areas of Law
- Administrative Law
- Immigration Law
- Human Rights Law
2014
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
UK
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The Claimant, an Algerian national with a criminal record, challenged the lawfulness of his detention in a UK prison rather than an Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) from January 2013 to March 2014. The court found that the Home Office had unlawfully applied a blanket policy for detaining 'Time-Served Foreign National Offenders' (TSFNOs) in prisons. Despite the finding, the court concluded that the Claimant's release made the matter largely academic. Courts need to draw a link between the ground of detention and its conditions to find a breach of Article 5 under the ECHR.
Judgment
MR JUSTICE JAY:
Introduction
The Claimant is a national of Algeria. He came to the United Kingdom on the 15 th February 1998, aged only 15. He was granted exceptional leave to remain, on account of his youth, but that expired on 10 th July 2004. The Claimant has accumulated numerous criminal convictions, and spent periods of time in custody. On 10 th September 2007 the Defendant deemed that the Claimant’s presence in the UK was not conducive to the public good, on account of his criminal record, and signed a deportation order against him. Subsequently, the Claimant received further criminal convictions leading to imprisonment, interspersed with periods of immigration detention.
On 20 th November 2012 the Claimant was convicted at Central Magistrates’ Court of the offence of theft, and he was sentenced to 3 months 20 days’ imprisonment. The custodial part of that sentence was completed on 14 th January 2013, and the Claimant was automatically on licence for the remaining period, having served half his sentence. However, he remained in detention at HMP Wandsworth under paragraph 2 (3) of Schedule 3 to the Immigration Act 1971 , being the subject of a deportation order. Save for short periods when he was detained at Immigration Removal Centres (“IRCs”), the Claimant was held at HMP Wandsworth under immigration powers until 7 th November 2013, when he was transferred to HMP Wormwood Scrubs. During this period he made a number of bail applications, all of which were refused.
Eventually, the Claimant was transferred to Harmondsworth IRC on 21 st March 2014. He was released on immigration bail on 31 st July 2014. The Claimant has not been removed to Algeria, as he should have been a long time ago, owing to difficulties with his documentation. The Claimant asserts that he wishes to return to Algeria, and the authorities there are therefore respectfully encouraged to facilitate his wishes.
These judicial review proceedings, as originally constituted, sought to assail the lawfulness of the Claimant’s detention after 14 th January 2013. There were two limbs to the challenge. By the first limb, the Claimant contended that he should not have been subject to administrative detention at all, because there was no prospect of his removal from the United Kingdom within a reasonable period. By his second limb, the Claimant contends that between 14 th January 2013 and 21 st March 2014 he should have been held in an IRC rather than a prison.
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