ADIR - L'altro diritto

ISSN 1827-0565

Origins of detention centres for the immigrants

Ornella Di Mauro, 2002

(Abstract)

This research begins examining the fortification process of the 'Europe fortress', and the development, from Schengen to Amsterdam, of the cliché that labels immigration as a threat to Europe.

Moving then to the Italian legislation the research discusses the policies meant to control illegal immigration, assuming that in the new Italian laws the struggle against illegal immigration became the priority for the migration policies. In this context the Detention centres assume a key role. They became the response to the leaks of the Italian (and European) migration legal system.

The second chapter deals with the two available measures to drive away illegal immigrants from Italy: expulsion and rejection at the frontier.

The third and the fourth chapters examine in detail the measure of confinement in the Detention centres, provided for by the 1998 law, and functional to the actual execution of expulsions and rejections. The research exposes the constitutional inconsistencies of the law and, reporting on two visits to the Centres of Milan and Rome, investigates its functional features and examines its analogies with prisons and other total institutions.

Finally the fifth chapter looks at the future of the immigration policies in Italy, discussing the government reform project n. 795, at the moment under the Parliament scrutiny.