PRE-DEPORTATION DETENTION FACILITIES resembles solitary confinement. The only possible alternative is to centralise the detention of female detainees awaiting deportation yet further and, as is already being planned, to reach an agreement with other Länder. The recommendation put forward by the Joint Commission, namely to take this aspect into account when taking the decision to detain a person is, however, no doubt not directed at the facility in Eisenhüttenstadt, since it merely serves to implement a judge’s decision regarding detention. The house rules pertaining to Eisenhüttenstadt PreDeportation Detention Facility are currently available in French, English, Russian and Vietnamese. This is not sufficient, especially in view of the fact that the facility holds detainees awaiting deportation. The Joint Commission therefore recommends making the house rules available in other languages as well. Response: The recommendation has been taken up; the house rules will be translated into other languages after they have been revised, which was already planned anyway. It was deemed necessary to provide translations of the current version of the house rules in Georgian and Serbian, and these have already been commissioned. Only the security area and the disciplinary detention rooms in the main building are used. The Joint Commission first inspected the specially secured room containing no dangerous objects (which is in the prison infirmary) where detainees awaiting deportation are also placed, as well as an observation room in the infirmary. It then inspected the PreDeportation Detention Wing in the separate area of the prison together with its detention rooms, sanitary facilities and common rooms. After it had learned that a detainee had been in disciplinary detention on the night preceding the visit, it inspected the disciplinary detention room in the main building. 1.3.1 – Positive findings The Joint Commission welcomes the fact that Mannheim Prison does not use Fixierung. It was further clear that staff of both the specialist services and the general prison service have been sensitised to the specific situation which detainees awaiting deportation are in. The Joint Commission welcomes the fact that staff of the general prison service are assigned to the Pre-Deportation Detention Wing on a fixed-term basis. In addition, it was pleased to note that the employees of the social service provide detainees with a telephone they can use to make calls outside of normal telephone times or if they have no money to do so. Another positive aspect is that detainees are asked each morning whether they wish to speak to one of the specialist services. If more detainees ask to speak to the specialist services than can be dealt with on one day, an unscheduled meeting is held the next day. 1.3 – THE PRE-DEPORTATION DETENTION WING IN MANNHEIM PRISON The Joint Commission visited the Pre-Deportation Detention Wing in Mannheim Prison on 10 April 2013. It was accompanied on its visit by a delegation of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT), which was looking into the work of the Joint Commission. The Joint Commission spoke with the head of the institution as well as with staff in the Pre-Deportation Detention Wing. In addition, it spoke with a chaplain and a social worker in the facility. It also held meetings with three detainees in the Pre-Deportation Detention Wing and one detainee awaiting deportation who was in disciplinary detention, and it consulted their files. The Pre-Deportation Detention Wing in Mannheim Prison is responsible for enforcing custody pending deportation in Baden-Württemberg. It has a roll of 65 and was holding 40 detainees at the time of the visit. One detainee awaiting deportation was in disciplinary detention. Mannheim Prison mainly holds male adult detainees awaiting deportation. Juvenile detainees require the consent of the Ministry of the Interior prior to detention. On average detainees stay for 30 days, although significantly longer stays of up to around seven months are also possible. The Pre-Deportation Detention Wing in Mannheim Prison is located in an entirely separate area of the prison, which is why prisoners do not come into contact with detainees awaiting deportation. 1.3.2 – Recommendations of the Joint Commission and response of the Ministry of Justice of Baden-Württemberg No external interpreter is available in the PreDeportation Detention Wing. This often leads to communication difficulties between the detainees and the staff, which in turn often leads to heightened levels of aggression amongst detainees. Other detainees are often used as interpreters during consultation meetings with the special services, which is detrimental to the confidential nature of such meetings. Response: Language barriers have recently given rise to conflicts with detainees from North Africa and Arabspeaking countries in particular. In consequence, a professional interpreter for Arabic will in future work in the facility three times a week to support the work of the specialist services and the general prison service. All the staff with whom the Joint Commission spoke during its visits agreed that work in the Pre- 52