What are detention centres? Who is affected? And how does the institutionalized process of detention prior to deportation work?
In their book "Die Würde des Menschen ist abschiebbar" (Human Dignity is Deportable), Sebastian Nitschke and Lina Droste answer these and other questions about detention pending deportation in Germany. As part of the authors' political activism against deportation prisons in Büren and Darmstadt, they wrote about detention conditions, court files, solitary confinement as well as shared field reports, portraits and conversations with detainees about their experiences of exclusion in Germany and their countries of origin.
On Monday, 16th January, the author Sebastian Nitzschke is coming to University of Passau to read excerpts of his book. The reading is going to take place in Hörsaal 2 (Philosophy Faculty, University of Passau) and will be held in german. Free entry!
We cordially invite you to come and join the discussion about conditions and realities of german deportation prisons!
The issue of detention pending deportation also affects us here in Passau. A new "combined prison" is currently being built in Königschalding (Passau), in which a deportation prison for at least 100 detainees is going to be built alongside the prison. Besides the already immense cost of over 200 million euros, the new "combined prison" will be the first of its kind in Germany combining a correctional facility and a deportation prison. Technically, according to jurisdiction, the two institutions must be strictly separated from each other.
Building such a facility is a major problem: refugees in detention pending deportation are often stigmatised as criminals, even though they have not legally committed a crime. Officially, they may only be detained if there is an "acute risk of absconding". However, this term can be interpreted very broadly, causing the majority of those affected to be wrongfully detained.
Furthermore, every new deportation prison being build makes it easier for german authorities to bypass the process of a precise case-by-case assessment and instead recklessly order detention pending deportation. The new detention centre in Passau is not only completely disproportionate, but also contradicts a humane migration policy!
