PRE-DEPORTATION DETENTION FACILITIES problematic. The detention of individual females who do not have the opportunity to talk to other women is tantamount to solitary confinement. The Joint Commission therefore recommends not keeping women alone in custody pending deportation, for example by cooperating with other Länder. In the Joint Commission’s view language barriers could also be contributing to the detainees’ situation. This became especially clear during the one-to-one meetings which members of the Joint Commission held with detainees. The detainees have different linguistic and cultural backgrounds and that may be why they cannot find any common ground. This is especially true given the steady drop in occupancy rates. Staff are also unable to alleviate the situation, since they themselves do not have the necessary language skills. In addition, communication problems easily arise in dealings between the detainees awaiting deportation and members of staff. The CPT standards also emphasise that staff have a key role to play in dealings with detainees awaiting 29 deportation. According to the CPT, staff must be carefully selected and given appropriate training in order to be able to handle interpersonal and intercultural problems. Further, relevant language skills are necessary. A professional interpreter is involved where necessary in the admission meetings as well as medical examinations. However, in other cases, other options are used, for example bringing in other detainees to interpret. This can be detrimental to the confidential nature of these meetings, especially when personal details are being revealed. Professional interpreters should therefore always be brought in where required, both in the admission meeting and the initial medical examination. Other detainees should at any rate not be used in this capacity when confidential or personal information is being shared. The Joint Commission moreover recommends increasingly allocating people with relevant language skills to work in the unit. Staff with different linguistic, cultural or ethnic backgrounds could have a positive influence especially when it comes to communicating with detainees awaiting deportation. Büren Prison serves as an example of this. Firstly, Büren Prison allocates prison staff with various linguistic skills. Secondly, European Homecare provides various services, and the company employs people with different backgrounds. The Joint Commission gained the impression that this linguistic and cultural diversity has a positive impact on the atmosphere in the facility. The Joint Commission had the impression that the range of training courses available to staff working in custody pending deportation could be improved. For example, there is no training course which deals with intercultural skills or recognising traumatisation. However, staff have a key role to play in recognising problems, since it is they who experience detainees in everyday situations. Staff should also be in a position to recognise the signs of trauma and to get psychiatric or psychological help. Langenhagen Unit has two specially secured rooms which are each camera-monitored. The rooms each have a toilet set into the floor. The Joint Commission welcomes the fact that the toilet area is only visible on the screen in pixellated form. However, the toilets are in full view through a peephole. This seems inconsistent. Legal advice is provided neither by internal nor external legal experts in the Langenhagen Unit. Once a week the church-run organisation “Rafaelswerk” offers detainees awaiting deportation advice on forced returns. However, this primarily serves to assist returnees in reintegrating into their home country. Detainees awaiting deportation must be able to draw on legal advice. They should receive support when it comes to contacting lawyers, for example, or non-governmental organisations. The Joint Commission regards the free legal advice which North Rhine-Westphalia offers to detainees awaiting deportation at Büren Prison as exemplary. It is organised by the local lawyers’ associations and is funded by the Land. The toilets are not located in the detention rooms, but on the corridors. After 8 pm detainees have to first ring a bell so that their door can be unlocked and they can then be taken to the toilet. The Joint Commission believes this is not ideal. However, according to staff, depending on the level of occupancy and an assessment of the security situation, doors are not always locked at night. According to the European Prison Rules, each prisoner must have access at all times to sanitary facilities which are hygienic and protect their 30 privacy. The communal showers do not have partitions to protect detainees’ privacy. Although, in view of the low occupancy rates, this does not currently pose a problem, a practical solution has been found in that detainees shower individually and at different times of the day. Nevertheless, the lack of partitions could become a problem when occupancy rates rise, which is why the Joint Commission deems it necessary that partitions be installed. 29 30 CPT/Inf/E (2002) 1 - Rev. 2010, p. 63 62 Council of Europe, Recommendation CM/Rec(2006)2, No. 19.3