PRE-DEPORTATION DETENTION FACILITIES should be examined whether communication between the Land and the federal authorities can be improved. As described in the above, the Reception Centre is well-equipped. However, the head of the facility reported during the visit and the meeting with staff of the church-run social service also revealed that the facility cannot offer those accommodated there any supervised recreational activities. The documents sent to the Joint Commission after the visit likewise do not indicate that there are any courses or sports activities on offer. Especially when people with different cultural backgrounds are placed together it appears important, however, to actively encourage them to break up their daily routine. The facility should offer more courses at fixed times during the week, as otherwise there is a risk that those placed there will not use the opportunities which are theoretically available and will lapse into mere “safe-keeping”. As well as staff of the general prison service, employees of the Kieler Wachund Sicherheitsgesellschaft, a private security firm, are employed in the facility. The latter staff, who are chosen in a targeted manner for employment in the Pre-Deportation Detention Facility, are dedicated staff who take training courses in preparation for their work. The members of the Joint Commission held an initial meeting to discuss the planned visit and were given information about the facility. The director of Kiel Prison, the director of Rendsburg PreDeportation Detention Facility, the prison doctor at Kiel Prison, the prison vicar at Kiel Prison, and the head of the provincial advisory council responsible for the enforcement of custody pending deportation also took part in the meeting. The delegation inspected the areas in which detainees awaiting deportation are detained, the sanitary facilities, several observation rooms and the specially secured room. In addition, the Joint Commission spoke with several detainees awaiting deportation, including detainees from Afghanistan, Syria and Morocco. 1.11 – RENDSBURG PRE-DEPORTATION DETENTION FACILITY The Joint Commission visited Rendsburg Pre34 Deportation Detention Facility on 13 January 2014. Custody pending deportation is enforced by way of administrative assistance for the Ministry of the Interior of Schleswig-Holstein and the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Rendsburg Pre-Deportation Detention Facility is a branch of Kiel Prison. It is located in a property which was built around 1900 and which was initially used as a youth detention facility. Since 2003 it has been used to accommodate male adult detainees awaiting deportation, since 2008 also male juveniles over the age of 16. The facility has a 35 separate area in which minors are accommodated. Detainees are held in a total of 40 detention rooms, four of which are double-occupancy rooms. According to the head of the institution, only one person is ever placed in each of the rooms. At the time of the visit the facility was holding 17 male detainees awaiting deportation. The average duration of stay over the past year was around 25 days. Based on an administrative agreement, female detainees awaiting deportation are held in Eisenhüttenstadt Pre-Deportation Detention Facility. Rendsburg Pre-Deportation Detention Facility is also responsible for enforcing remand detention and detention prior to being brought before officials in an embassy or consulate. However, in 2012 and 2013 no-one was placed in such detention. 1.11.1 – Positive findings The Joint Commission would like to expressly commend the efforts being made to significantly improve the conditions of detention. For instance, detainees are no longer locked in their rooms for a period of quiet after lunch, and they may wear their own clothing and wash that clothing in a washing machine which was bought specifically for that purpose. Likewise, the extension of shower times is to be welcomed. In addition, detainees can now use mobile phones. They may use their own phones so far as these have no camera. If that is not the case, the facility has a telephone which can be operated using pre-paid cards. Detainees also have access to the internet. The Joint Commission also takes a positive view of the intercultural skills training course which is being planned for 2014 and plans to organise supervision for staff and the private security service. 1.11.2 – Recommendations of the Joint Commission and response of the Ministry of Justice, Europe and Culture of SchleswigHolstein The property very much resembles a prison. Although it was renovated in 2002 before being taken into operation as a facility enforcing custody pending deportation, there is no denying the influence its historic panoptical construction has on the building. 34 Although the visit was made in January 2014, it is presented in connection with the special topic “custody pending deportation” chosen for the Annual Report 2013. 35 A total of five juveniles were placed in the deportation detention facility in 2013 (seven in 2012). 68