‘Adult environment of detention immediately puts minors at a disadvantage,’ says new European report
A new report released on 29 June examines the effect of immigration detention on individuals in Europe. The DEVAS report, ‘Becoming Vulnerable in Detention’, produced by the Jesuit Refugee Service Europe (JRS), uses data from 685 one-on-one interviews with detainees, collected in collaboration with NGOs over 23 EU member states.
Some of JRS’ conclusions:
(…)The results show that persons with officially recognized needs, such as minors, young women and the medically ill, are indeed negatively impacted by detention. The adult environment of detention immediately puts minors at a disadvantage, especially if they are unaccompanied, because they are vulnerable to the behavior of the staff and to the prison-like atmosphere of detention, for example. The data findings show that women, especially between the age of 18 and 24, especially suffer from adverse mental health impacts. The medically ill may not be able to receive the treatment they need because the detention centre only provides for basic medical care.
(…) In almost every case, the study shows that detention has a distinctively deteriorative effect upon the individual person. Only in very few cases do detainees describe their personal situation as having improved after detention; and just as few say that detention has not impacted them whatsoever. The vast majority of detainees describe a scenario in which the environment of detention weakens their personal condition. The prison-like environments existing in many detention centers, the isolation from the “outside world,” the unreliable flow of information and the disruption of a life plan lead to mental health impacts such as depression, self-uncertainty and psychological stress, as well as physical health impacts such as decreased appetite and varying degrees of insomnia. The manner in how detainees see themselves is significantly impacted by detention. In this context, self-perception becomes an important indicator of the effects of detention because as an administrative measure, it should not bring such detrimental personal consequences.
and recommendations:
(….) The research reveals that the human cost of detention is too high, regardless of the achievability of these ends because:
The negative consequences of detention and its harmful effects on individual persons are disproportionate to their actual situations, in that they have committed no crime and are only subject to administrative procedures, and;
It is unnecessary to detain persons and thus make them vulnerable to the harmful effects of detention because non-custodial alternatives to detention do exist.
