Turin's CIE - International University College of Turin

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D.’S STORY (INTERVIEW 14)
D. spoke to us on the telephone from inside CIE after five months of detention. His story
struck us because he was suffering extremely, his voice wavering over the phone: “I think
death would be better. I’ve lost everything”. D. said that before entering CIE he never had any
mental health issues: “I’m losing my head. I’ve attempted suicide twice”. At the time of our
interview, D. had been on a hunger strike for eight days as a desperate last plea for help. D. is
a twenty-eight-year-old Moroccan who moved to Italy in 1997, as a teenager with a valid
residence permit. He has worked in a variety of labouring jobs in Italy. He also met his
partner here, although she is actually from another EU country (“EU Country 2”). They had a
child together.
D. explained to us about how he lost his job and he could not find enough work to survive. He
fell in with the wrong crowd. He was convicted for trafficking drugs and he was sentenced to
thirty-two months prison. D. spoke candidly about how he regretted breaking the law and
now he wanted to contribute positively to society. D.’s Italian residence permit expired while
he was in prison. He was then placed under house arrest, at which point the police came and
took him to CIE: “I didn’t know before that was I going to be transferred in CIE. They didn’t give
me any chance to talk with a lawyer. They told me they were going to take me to Turin and that
I could speak with the judge there”. After D.’s original arrest, his partner and child moved back
to EU Country 2 where she has family. D. is desperately hoping to be reunited with his young
family and to be able to spend time with his child. D. had expected to be able to see his child
after leaving prison. He was not psychologically prepared for CIE detention and he was
having difficulty coping with the prospect of living inside CIE for up to eighteen months. D.
found the environment in CIE particularly difficult: “I felt safer in prison. Everyday is worse.
Nothing gets better here”. He believes that the structure of CIE is degrading and does not
respect human dignity: “[Some of the staff], they look at you in an inhuman way, like if we were
animals”.
Shortly after the interview, D. was released from CIE due to health reasons. He was released
without any place to sleep and he did not have any money. D. was fortunate to find an
abandoned building of squatters to sleep in. Otherwise, he would probably have had no
choice but to sleep on the streets, after exhausting any temporary homeless shelters that he
might have been able to find. D. contacted us again approximately two months after leaving
CIE. He was still outside CIE and waiting for documents enabling him to leave the country. He
holds onto the hope of being allowed to travel to EU Country 2 to live with his partner and
child.
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