In pictures: Immigration removal

Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre is a secure site outside Heathrow Airport used to hold people being deported from the UK.

The centre is privately run. It looks like a jail - but is not part of the prison system and has slightly different rules and regulations.

Colnbrook now handles the deportation of dangerous foreign national prisoners, partly as a response to a major disturbance at its less secure neighbour

It has the trappings of a Category B prison - the second highest level of security - and holds up to 380 people. Many of the convicted criminals are held for just a few days before flights home.

There are four long-term units, each holding 66 detainees. A short-term unit holds up to 80. Detainees are held in "rooms", not "cells".

Ministers have made deporting foreign prisoners a priority after a previous scandal. The prisons watchdog says this centre was struggling in 2007 to cope with dangerous offenders.

Some of the detainees are asylum seekers who have been found to have no case for refuge in the UK. Others include illegal workers detained after raids on unscrupulous employers in the black economy.

Outside spaces have limited views beyond the centre's perimeter. The noise of airliners taking off dominates the atmosphere.

In this room, there are bunks for two detainees, multi-lingual television, a screened shower and toilet. Other rooms are designed to segregate very dangerous prisoners.

On departure day, a prisoner's belongings are collected for the drive to Heathrow. Many long-term prisoners accept the process - but removing failed asylum seekers sometimes leads to confrontations.

Colnbrook looks like a prison - but the atmosphere is subtly different. The BBC was not permitted to interview any detainees to find out what they thought. Words/Pictures: Dominic Casciani.

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