High Court finds very lengthy period of immigration detention lawful

February 5, 2021

The High Court handed down judgment in Singh v SSHD [2021] EWHC 158 (Admin) finding that a period of immigration detention of 13 months in a Category B prison was lawful and justified despite the problems with returning detainees to India during the Covid-19 pandemic and despite the severe restrictions on prisoner’s freedoms because of lockdown.

This is the first substantive judicial review to consider returning detainees to India and considering the weight to be placed on the very limited freedoms open to immigration detainees in prison in 2020-2021.

Nicholas Ostrowski represented the SSHD.