Asylum seekers: Napier Barracks and Penally camp inspected over conditions

Protesters calling for Napier Barracks to be closed threw fake blood at the gates

Two ex-military sites housing asylum seekers are to be visited by immigration and prison inspectors.

Napier Barracks in Folkestone, Kent, witnessed protests over living conditions in January.

The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) will also carry out an inspection at Penally camp in Pembrokeshire, where a protest took place in October.

Inspectors' reports will be published by the Home Office, the ICIBI said.

Journalist Andy Aitchison, who was held after photographing a protest at Napier Barracks, has said "bad things are going on there". The Home Office has said the barracks provided safe and secure accommodation.

The site was used to house about 400 asylum seekers until some were moved to self-isolation following a Covid-19 outbreak.

Photos taken inside the Penally military camp show the living conditions in one of the rooms

Protests also took place at the Penally military training camp near Tenby in a row about conditions.

Some of those housed there claimed the conditions are unsafe and they had been put at risk from coronavirus.

Inspectors from ICIBI and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) are planning to visit both sites next week, an ICIBI spokesman said.

A report will be published by Home Secretary Priti Patel "in due course", he added.

"As with all ICIBI inspections, the Independent Chief Inspector will raise any matters requiring urgent attention with the Home Office, or directly with ministers, in advance of submitting his full inspection report," he said.

Some asylum seekers have slept outside in protest at the conditions in the building

On Thursday, Home Office minister Baroness Williams of Trafford told the House of Lords that Napier Barracks was "fit for purpose".

She said the accommodation was safe, warm and to an "appropriate standard".

Labour's Lord Dubs said it was not acceptable for some asylum seekers to be held in conditions where those with Covid-19 could not self-isolate.

Lord Dubs said there was "inadequate" medical attention and a lack of hot food and hot water.

In a letter to the home secretary, church leaders have called for an end to the use of military barracks as a temporary home for asylum seekers.

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