Turin's CIE - International University College of Turin

P A R T D . O T H E R M A T T E R S
Part D documents additional miscellaneous matters about Turin’s CIE, which assist to
contextualise our understanding of the centre in terms of its wider economic, social and political
context. This part begins with figures on the capacity and costs of Turin’s CIE and Italian
immigration detention centres more generally. The body of the report then concludes with a
comment on a wider sociological issue that was raised by the research in the preceding chapters:
the complex question of how identity should be classified. It became apparent throughout the study
that at the heart of the CIE was law about who classifies identity, the systemic barriers that
prevent access to justice for particular groups of people and the difficulty that some people have in
accessing the means necessary to claim their own identity within the legal system.
XIII. FIGURES AND COSTS
1. CAPACITY, DURATION OF DETENTION AND REPATRIATION
At a national level there are thirteen Italian CIEs which can accommodate a total of up to 1,901
detainees 175 . The maximum capacity of Turin’s CIE appears to be controversial, as most sources
including Italy’s Senate Commission refer to 180 places 176 , while others maintain that total
allowance is 210 177 . However, the capacity of Turin’s CIE is limited due to the impracticability of
one of the inner areas, the White Area, from which most escape attempts occurred in 2011.
According to Turin’s Prefettura a total number of 1,144 foreigners entered Turin’s detention
centre during 2011, with more than 50% being Tunisian citizens 178 . Other sources show similar
numbers (1,140 179 ) or slightly lower numbers (1.018 180 ). The average period of detention
ranges from thirty-five days 181 to forty-one days 182 . Local authorities claim that throughout
2011 nobody was detained in Turin’s CIE longer than 280 days 183 . Concerning the repatriation
rate, according to members of Turin’s Prefettura 650 detainees were repatriated during 2011,
which represents some 57% of the total detainee population 184 . Similarly, an investigation by
Medici per i Diritti Umani places the 2011 repatriation rate for Turin’s CIE at 55.8% 185 , while a
report by Associazione A Buon Diritto Onlus calculated that this repatriation rate was 50.3% 186 .
The national average repatriation rate for Italian CIE detainees is estimated to be between
175 Commissione straordinaria per la tutela e la promozione dei diritti umani, Rapporto sullo stato dei diritti
umani negli istituti penitenziari e nei centri di accoglienza e trattenimento per migranti in Italia, 109.
176 Id.
177 Luigi Manconi and Stefano Anastasia (eds), Associazione A Buon Diritto Onlus, Lampedusa non è un’isola.
Profughi e migranti alle porte dell’Italia, June 2012, 292; Medici per i Diritti Umani (MEDU), Le Sbarre Più
Alte. Rapporto sul centro di identificazione ed espulsione di Ponte Galeria a Roma, May 2012, 7.
178 Figures provided by members of Turin’s Prefettura; figures released on regional TV news involved in the
“LasciateCIEntrare” action as part of the “Opean Access Now” European Alternatives campaign.
179 Manconi and Anastasia (eds), Lampedusa non è un’isola, June 2012, 303.
180 Medici per i Diritti Umani (MEDU), L’iniquo ingranaggio dei CIE. Breve analisi dei dati nazionali completi
del 2011 sui centri di identificazione ed espulsione, July 2012, 3.
181 Figures provided by members of Turin’s Prefettura.
182 Manconi and Anastasia (eds), Lampedusa non è un’isola, June 2012, 306.
183 Figures provided by members of Turin’s Prefettura.
184 Id.
185 Medici per i Diritti Umani, L’iniquo ingranaggio dei CIE, 3.
186 Manconi and Anastasia (eds), Lampedusa non è un’isola, June 2012, 307.
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