By Axel Lier
Open, open, open – the dangerous deportation prison in Berlin-Lichtenrade is not really busy. The facility is repeatedly closed because there are no inmates. Apparently, the authorities are now considering shared use for patients in the correctional facility.
A spokesman for the Senate Department for the Interior contradicts rumors within the police that there is a working group that is taking care of a closure. But: “Currently, there is only a cross-sectoral referral (…) to ensure regular continued operation of the detention facility pending deportation,” says the press office cryptically.
The deportation prison therefore remains “necessary”, there are “considerations about its continued existence”. To this end, one cooperates not only with the judicial administration, but also with the Senate Department for Health. The latter is responsible for the correctional system in Berlin – and it has significant capacity problems.
The Berlin Medical Association has been criticizing “unacceptable conditions” in the forensic hospital for a long time. The accommodation of the patients was “sometimes inhumane and the working conditions for the employees are unbearable,” said Peter Bobbert, President of the Medical Association, at the beginning of the year. The hospital in Reinickendorf accommodates around 600 patients. However, only 541 beds are approved.
The Senate Administration has rented the former youth detention center on Lichtenrader Kirchhainer Damm from the judiciary. The prison has 35 places. Because those who are at risk are classified by the security authorities as “particularly dangerous persons”, their detention pending deportation must also meet special security requirements.
The facility has been in operation since September 2018. Again and again it has to be shut down due to a lack of occupants. In the past four years, only about 100 people have been in detention pending deportation – because the legal hurdles are high.
The deportation prison also urgently needs to be modernized. According to the building scan, the renovation backlog totals 11.9 million euros.