Legal action is being mounted over claims that women at risk of deportation are missing out on vital in-person legal advice in a Consett detention centre.
The campaign group Women for Refugee Women have applied for permission to seek judicial review against the Home Office over practices it claims are taking place at Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre (IRC), the new facility which recently opened on the site of the notorious Medomsley Detention Centre.
The group, alongside one individual claimant who was imprisoned at the site, claim women detained there have only been able to access legal advice remotely - a policy they say harms mental health and could affect the chances of a successful case.
