VISITS BY THE JOINT COMMISSION “It is a well-known fact that the health of detainees awaiting deportation deteriorates whilst they are in custody. Detrimental conditions include a lack of information about the reason for and duration of their detention, being accommodated together with prisoners, isolation, not being able to communicate due to language barriers, retraumatisation following trauma experienced during a previous arrest and period in detention, and the lack of psychological and medi39 cal care.” Against this backdrop it is especially important that staff are able to get as broad a picture of a detainee’s mental and physical state as possible. Firstly, drawing in other detainees to interpret does not guarantee that what those concerned say is rendered fully and correctly in German. Secondly, it does not ensure a confidential atmosphere during the meeting. It should be ensured that external interpreters are called in where necessary to take part in admission meetings and especially during medical examinations. It must also be possible for staff and detainees awaiting deportation to communicate on a day-to-day basis in the unit. During its inspection of the pre-deportation detention unit in the women’s prison the Joint Commission found that in some cases staff were unable to communicate with detainees. When Mühldorf am Inn Prison becomes the central facility responsible for enforcing custody pending deportation, attention should be paid to the targeted selection of staff to work in this area. Staff should have various cultural backgrounds and cover as large a range of languages as possible. Response: Where required, Mühldorf am Inn Prison can call in external interpreters to deal with language difficulties. In addition, foreign language skills are one of the necessary requirements being made of social workers during the ongoing recruitment procedure. Language skills are also an important selection criterion in the general prison service. As desirable as it would be for staff to come from different cultural backgrounds and to cover a wide range of foreign languages, this is, unfortunately, not feasible given the labour market situation and the prison’s location. The civil servants employed in the pre-deportation detention unit are not given any specific training or ongoing training in dealing with detainees awaiting deportation. However, this group of people find themselves in a very particular situation on account of their facing deportation. In Mannheim Prison, for instance, staff in the pre-deportation detention unit are given special training. The National Agency suggests running similar courses for staff once Mühldorf am Inn Prison has been reorganised. Response: Mühldorf Prison recognised the specific training requirements of staff who are employed in enforcing custody pending deportation early on. At the start of the conversion process it therefore drew on the specialist knowledge of staff in prisons in which custody pending deportation is already being enforced. There are plans for the local district office to run training courses on the law concerning foreigners. In addition, the director of Mühldorf am Inn Prison plans to contact Mannheim Prison to benefit from its best practice experience. Finally, a former prison director at Mühldorf am Inn Prison who has the relevant training is acting as supervisor. According to the house rules, detainees may be permitted to wear their own clothes. However, according to staff, detainees awaiting deportation have to wear prison clothing. In order to approximate their situation as closely as possible to normal life, it should be ensured that detainees awaiting deportation can wear their own clothes. Likewise, opportunities should be created for them to wash their clothes. Response: The option of wearing one’s own clothes generally fails in reality because detainees do not have sufficient financial means to ensure that they have a change of clothing or that they can have their clothes washed, as they primarily use the pocket money they are given to buy food, drinks and tobacco. 3.2.4 – Positive findings The atmosphere in Nuremberg Prison was good. Prisoners/detainees in particular mentioned the relationship with general prison service staff. It became clear in meetings with the staff and detainees awaiting deportation that assigning a dedicated social worker to the custody pending deportation unit has improved the situation of those being detained there. Both detainees awaiting deportation and the social worker mentioned the great commitment shown by one member of the refugee aid, who has been looking after detainees awaiting deportation for many years. 39 German Medical Council (2011), 114th German Medical Assembly, Resolution, p. 125 46