Illegal immigrants trying to remain in Britain protested their treatment at the country's largest detention center on Wednesday, spilling out of their rooms and lighting fires to draw attention to their plight.
The protest came only one day after a government report detailed alleged mistreatment of detainees by the staff.
In a statement on Wednesday night, Lin Homer, director general of the Immigration Nationality Directorate (IND) said the disturbances were being brought under control and some detainees were being moved from Harmondsworth to other facilities.
Some 150 failed asylum seekers or other illegal entrants due to be deported would have to be freed on bail to make room for them, she said.
"The situation at Harmondsworth remains contained," Homer said. "The perimeter remains secure and no one has escaped. There has been no risk to the public."
Homer said Harmondsworth holds around 500 people, all awaiting deportation.
"This [unrest] appears to have been a deliberate attempt at sabotage in order to frustrate these processes."
`SOS FREEDOM'
Detainees spelled out the message "SOS Freedom" with what appeared to be sheets in the courtyard of the center, footage from Sky News showed.
There were no known injuries among the staff or the 482 detainees, a Home Office spokeswoman said, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with government policy.
"Police have assisted the prison and immigration services by securing the perimeter and there is absolutely no risk to the public," a spokeswoman said.
The detainees are failed asylum seekers or those detained for illegally entering the country or overstaying their visas.
POOR MANAGEMENT
Their protest came after the Chief Inspector of Prisons released a report which described poor relations between the staff and prisoners.
"We attributed these poor relationships, which were worse than any we have seen elsewhere, at least in part to the center management's overemphasis on physical security and control," Chief Inspector Anne Owers wrote in the report.
"Many of the rules and systems would have been considered over-controlling in a prison, let alone a removal center," she wrote.
The facility, operated by Kalyx, a private company that builds prisons and provides management, was consistently not meeting government standards, according to the report.
"This is undoubtedly the poorest report we have issued on an immigration removal center," Owers said in a statement.
Labor Party lawmaker John McDonnell wrote to Home Secretary John Reid, expressing concern at Kalyx's management of the facility.
The detention center has grown from 20 or 30 beds to a massive complex capable of holding 500 detainees in a few years, McDonnell said.
In his letter, McDonnell -- whose electoral district covers Harmondsworth -- urged the government to take over control of the center from Kalyx, which has a contract to operate the facility until 2008.
DETAINEE SURVEY
More than 60 percent of detainees told government inspectors that they felt unsafe during a surprise visit in July. More than 40 percent said they had been bullied by staff.
Owers was most worried that a plan that had been developed and presented after a detainee hanged himself in July 2004 "was a purely bureaucratic exercise which had had no impact on the center's practices."
The suicide triggered a riot at Harmondsworth in July 2004.
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