Brook House Immigration Removal Centre is a privately managed detention centre, operated by Serco on behalf of Home Office. The facility is situated in the grounds of Gatwick Airport, Crawley, West Sussex. Brook House opened in March 2009 as a newly built facility with a capacity of 448 detainees, which increased to 508 in 2017. The facility is built to a Category B security level. Brook House is built near to the immigration removal centre at Tinsley House, also at Gatwick and currently operated by Serco. The facility was built on a similar design to Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre at Heathrow and was initially intended to provide short-term accommodation for male detainees. History In August 2019 the Home Office invited outsourcing companies to bid for a contract worth up to £260m over 10 years from May 2020 to run Brook House and Tinsley House. The following month, G4S announced that it would not be bidding for the contract. In February 2020 the Home Office announced that Serco had been awarded the contract to run both removal centres until 2028. The contractor's bid included an undertaking to increase staffing levels including those responsible for detainees' welfare, to give detainees access to educational activities through the week, and to provide new safeguarding and vulnerability training. On May 21, 2020, Serco took over operations at the centre from incumbent contractor G4S after a successful tendering process Controversies Abuse of detainees In 2010 the Chief Inspector of Prisons Dame Anne Owers declared the facility to be "fundamentally unsafe" due to bullying, violence, and drug misuse. Detainees were being held for an average of three months, and at least one man for ten months, in facilities designed for stays of no more than 72 hours. A report published in March 2017 showed significant improvement, with Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke stating that staff were to be congratulated. Whilst there was still criticism of the layout and prison-like environment, praise was made for the staff-detainee relationship and for the facilities available. The facility was assessed overall as "reasonably good". In September 2017, an investigation by BBC Panorama revealed "widespread self-harm and attempted suicides" in the centre, and claimed that drug use among detainees was "rife". Covert footage recorded by detention custody officer Callum Tulley appeared to show other officers mocking, abusing and assaulting detainees. As a result of the programme, G4S suspended one nurse, six