Detention centres are bad for immigrant children's health, study finds

doi:10.1136/bmj.b4219

Published 15 October 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b4219
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4219

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Detention centres are bad for immigrant children’s health, study finds

Helen Mooney

¹ London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Prolonged detention in immigration centres seriously damagesthe physical and mental health and wellbeing of children, anew study has found.

The UK study shows clear evidence that detention is "harmful"to children. Doctors specialising in child health examined 24children detained at Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre,near Bedford, and found that the majority were experiencingmental and physical health difficulties related to being indetention. Many of the children had come to the United Kingdomseeking asylum.

The doctors have called on the government to urgently re-examineits policy of keeping children detained in immigration centresafter they found that children had developed depression andanxiety as well as physical problems relating to their detention.Their report, published in Child Abuse and Neglect (2009;33:573-85,doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2008.10.005), has also called for a furthercomprehensive study into the physical and mental wellbeing ofdetained children.

The study found that . . . [Full text of this article]

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