Italy’s migrant detention centers, also known as CPRs (Centri di Permanenza per il Rimpatrio), have long been criticized by human rights organizations for their notoriously inhumane conditions and alleged human rights violations. These centers, designed as temporary holding facilities for migrants whose asylum applications have been rejected or for foreigners facing expulsion for criminal or other reasons, have been at the center of controversies and protests.
The recent tragic death of 19-year-old Ousmane Sylla, a Guinean migrant who allegedly took his own life at the Ponte Galeria detention center in Rome, has reignited calls for the closure of these facilities. Sylla’s death sparked outrage among detainees, who set mattresses on fire and threw objects at police, leading to the arrest of 14 individuals. Reports indicate that six other detainees at the same facility have attempted to end their lives following Sylla’s death, with one person remaining hospitalized and three others transferred to different facilities due to their conditions being deemed “incompatible” with detention at Ponte Galeria.
Human rights groups have long denounced Italy’s migrant detention centers as “black holes for human rights violations,” citing reports of violence, suicide attempts, and protests by detainees over the deplorable living conditions. In 2014, migrants housed at the Ponte Galeria detention center sewed their mouths shut in protest over the center’s conditions, with thirteen Moroccan men between the ages of 20 and 30 stitching their lips together using thread from a blanket and a small needle.
Despite these concerns, the right-wing government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has defended the centers as essential to curbing irregular migration to Italy. Meloni’s government has extended the amount of time migrants can be detained at these centers to 18 months as part of a strategy to deter would-be refugees and their traffickers from attempting to enter the country by crossing the Mediterranean.
The issue of migrant detention centers in Italy has been a longstanding one, with incidents such as the footage of naked asylum-seekers being hosed down at a migrant detention facility on Lampedusa in 2013 drawing condemnation from the European Union. Italy, with its coastline that juts out into the Mediterranean Sea, has become a main entry point for irregular arrivals into Europe from northern Africa, with over 150,000 migrants reaching the country by sea last year alone.
Human rights organizations and activists have continued to call for the closure of these facilities, citing the repeated episodes of violence, suicide attempts, and protests by detainees as evidence of the inhumane conditions and violations of human rights occurring within their walls. The situation has become a significant point of contention between the Italian government’s hardline stance on irregular migration and the demands for humane treatment and respect for the rights of migrants and asylum-seekers.