Breakout of a thousand migrants with nothing to lose

Up to 1,000 foreign criminals with 'nothing to lose' are being held in immigration centres with only limited security, a Government expert has warned.

This will lead to fears of more escapes from the UK's ten detention centres following the breakout from Campsfield House, in Oxfordshire, in the early hours of Sunday.

Despite a massive manhunt - involving dogs, helicopters and police searches of sheds and gardens close to the centre - none of the 14 convicts still on the run was caught yesterday.

As police stepped up their efforts, it emerged that a report written two weeks ago had warned of serious concerns that 'volatile' foreign national prisoners could go on the rampage.

Security expert Robert Whalley said criminals who were waiting to be deported after completing their jail terms had 'little to inhibit them if an opportunity for disorder presents itself'.

His report said only one of the ten immigration centres had security on a par with a Category B jail - the standard for making an escape 'very difficult'.

The remaining centres, including Campsfield, have a more relaxed regime, with detainees allowed to roam around.

The mass escape came shortly after midnight on Sunday after detainees starting a series of fires then forced open a perimeter gate.

Mr Whalley, a former director of counter terrorism and intelligence, had warned: 'Some prisoners will take advantage of the poor fabric of centres.

'Some will find the dual pressures of further time in custody and uncertain date of release frustrating, to the extent that, with nothing to lose, the temptation to join in gratuitous disorder may prove too much.'

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His report was into past detention centre disturbances, including one at Campsfield in March this year. It revealed there are only 2,127 places available at the ten immigration centres.

Of those, 1,165 are taken by overseas criminals. The remainder are occupied by failed asylum seekers. Only Colnbrook, which has 270 places in West London, has security on a par with a secure category-B jail.

The Tories said it was clear that holding foreign prisoners, who have completed their sentences but are awaiting deportation, was a mistake.

All the recent disturbances stemmed from the decision to place overseas convicts in immigration centres while they await deportation, following last year's foreign prisoner scandal.

There is no room in prison, because of the overcrowding shambles. A total of 26 fled in Sunday's incident, but 12 were caught in the hours immediately afterwards.

The rest, it is feared, might never be found. Seven of the 23 who fled during the massive blaze at the Government's flagship Yarl's Wood immigration detention centre in 2002 remain at large.

A Home Office spokesman said: 'On completion of a prison sentence all persons are subject to risk assessment. Not all time-served foreign nationals are transferred to the Immigration Removal Estate.'

• The BBC was criticised yesterday for giving airtime to a foreign drug dealer detained in Campsfield Detention Centre.

The inmate, whose gave his name as Ash, described how prisoners tried unsuccessfully to explode gas canisters.

He told Radio 4's Today programme that conditions in the centre were much worse than in ordinary prisons, including 'food, toilets, showers and medication', and that most inmates spent the day sleeping.

Tory MP Ann Widdecombe retorted: 'If somebody is awaiting deportation, we are not responsible for rehabilitating them to live in a society in which they are not going to live.'