Improving health in immigration detention and promoting alternatives to detention

Over the past few decades, immigration detention has become increasingly used as a way to manage migration flows,1 despite international law clearly stating that it should only be used as a last resort2–4 and that children should never be detained.3,5 As a fundamental human right, health is important for everyone, including refugees and migrants. Immigration detention has negative impacts on physical and mental health and on families and communities as a whole.1 It is crucial to address the health challenges in immigration detention, mitigate the negative effects of such detention, and identify alternative approaches to detention. The restrictions that detained migrants are subject to are similar to conditions in prisons but there is a lack of adequate safeguards and standards, such as regular access to health services and staff training, resulting in instances where migrants in detention have poorer health outcomes than individuals in prisons.1 Immigration detention can cause a decline in health, especially in the mental health of migrants.6,7 Migrants' health typically worsens with the duration of detention.