PRE-DEPORTATION DETENTION FACILITIES Response: Detainees in the facility are given sufficient information regarding the different types of meals available. Upon admission each detainee is given a copy of the house rules. Point 4 of the house rules (which are available in 10 different languages) describes in detail the different types of meals available. Further, reference is made to the choice of meals during the first meeting with the social service. In addition, the local staff on each landing address personal concerns. A system for providing information using pictogrammes is currently being prepared. means of a curtain. According to the head of the institution, only one detainee is ever placed in each of these detention rooms. Some of the detention rooms are very narrow, dark and not homely. The communal showers have no partitions to protect privacy. The Ministry of Justice of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania informed the Joint Commission that renovation work on Block B in which detainees awaiting deportation are housed is set to begin in 2016. Work has already begun on renovating Block A and on constructing a new building; according to current plans this work will be completed by June 2015 and December 2015, respectively. No decision has yet been taken on which building detainees awaiting deportation will be accommodated in. On account of the structural design and the resulting consequences of the wing accommodating detainees awaiting deportation being affiliated to a prison, Bützow Prison is unsuited to enforcing custody pending deportation. Detainees awaiting deportation may only be subject to those restrictions which are absolutely essential to the enforcement of custody pending deportation. In the opinion of the Joint Commission, waiting for 1 1/2 years for the renovation work to be completed is not an option. In addition, short-term measures must urgently be taken to improve detainees’ conditions of detention. That is why the Joint Commission advocates creating a separate facility in which custody pending deportation is enforced, as is already the case in Brandenburg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Bavaria and as is provided for as the normal case by law. The CPT 25 shares this opinion. Response: First measures have been taken to improve the structural conditions in the Pre-Deportation Detention Wing by placing new furniture in the detention rooms. From January 2014 the detention rooms will be repainted, the structural defects which the Joint Commission criticised will be remedied and, where necessary, the sanitary facilities refurbished. Provision has also been made for the kitchen and the common room to be refurbished. Once this work is completed there are plans for these rooms to be given the necessary fittings and furnishings. As mentioned in the above, pursuant to the EU Returns Directive custody pending detention should always be enforced in specialised detention facilities. Where such specialised detention facilities are not available in a Member State and detainees need to be accommodated in normal prisons, detained thirdcountry nationals must be accommodated separately from normal prisoners (principle of separation). This is not possible in Bützow Prison. 1.5 – THE PRE-DEPORTATION DETENTION WING IN BÜTZOW PRISON The Joint Commission visited the Pre-Deportation Detention Wing in Bützow Prison on 8 August 2013. It inspected the wing together with the sanitary facilities, the specially secured room containing no dangerous objects, an observation room, the recreation yard and the visiting rooms. During its visit the Joint Commission spoke with a psychologist, a social worker, the chaplain and other members of staff in the wing. Further, it held a confidential meeting with one detainee awaiting deportation. The head of the institution and other members of staff were on hand during the entire visit. Bützow Prison has closed men’s and women’s wings and can hold a total of 533 prisoners. Its responsibility for male prisoners comprises enforcement of all terms of imprisonment of no more than five years and remand detention. It can hold a total of 498 men. Bützow Prison is responsible for enforcing all terms of imprisonment against adult females in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and can hold a total of 35 women. The prison enforces custody pending deportation against adult male detainees awaiting deportation in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania by way of providing administrative assistance to the Ministry of the Interior. The PreDeportation Detention Wing can hold 12 men and was fully occupied at the time of the visit. 1.5.1 – Recommendations of the Joint Commission and response of the Ministry of Justice of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania The Pre-Deportation Detention Wing in Bützow Prison is in a very bad state of repair. The detention rooms, sanitary facilities and the furnishings are worn out, some are broken. There are holes in the doors, windows and walls which have been filled with paper or towels in a makeshift manner. Some of the rooms and sanitary facilities are very dirty. According to one member of staff it is impossible to get them properly clean. The toilets in some of the cells are not partitioned off, in some detention rooms only by 25 Cf. e.g. CPT/Inf/E (2002) 1 – Rev. 2013, margin no. 28 et seq. and CPT/Inf (2012) 6, margin no. 33 56