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A bad story
Report on the Ponte Galeria (Rome) identification and deportation centre for immigrants without residence permits
Inadequate to protect the dignity of detainees and to guarantee their fundamental rights. Clearly ineffective in achieving the goals that justify it (i.e. the identification and the repatriation of the detainees), even after the extension of the period of detention. The percentage of expelled detainees during the first 9 months of 2010 (43%) shows that less than half of the immigrants detained in the centre of Ponte Galeria are actually repatriated. This percentage is essentially the same as the data found in the same period of 2009, when the maximum term of detention was still 60 days1. Thus, it is evident that the extension of the maximum detention time from two to six months – in addition to the worsening of living conditions and further weakening of rights within the centre – had no improvement in the effectiveness of repatriations.
The third report of Medici per i Diritti Umani (MEDU) on the largest Italian Centre for Identification and Deportation (CIE) – the one of Ponte Galeria, in Rome – confirms the main problems emerged during the previous visits and highlights new ones. These critical issues remain a part of the inner nature of the institution, thus they are still relevant regardless of the management (in March 2009, the cooperative Auxilium replaced the Italian Red Cross’ ten-year management of the centre) even though, at the time of the last visit, the overall management appeared slightly more adequate than in the past. The structural features of the centre are reminiscent of a prison and are absolutely incapable of guaranteeing a decent stay for immigrants.