Ad-Hoc Query on access to cell phones in detention pending deportation. Requested by AT EMN NCP on 21 st February 2012

Transcription

1 Ad-Hoc Query on access to cell phones in detention pending deportation Requested by AT EMN NCP on 21 st February 2012 Compilation produced on 4 th June 2012 Responses from Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom plus Norway (22 in Total) Disclaimer: The following responses have been provided primarily for the purpose of information exchange among EMN NCPs in the framework of the EMN. The contributing EMN NCPs have provided, to the best of their knowledge, information that is up-to-date, objective and reliable. Note, however, that the information provided does 1. Background Information Austria s Federal Ministry of the Interior is interested in the Member States practice and legislation respectively in regard to the access of detainees in detention pending deportation to cell phones. In Austria, detainees are not allowed to keep their cell phones. They have access to a phone which accepts pre-paid cards (provided to detainees by return counsellors). In individual cases the cell phone will be provided for a short time only (e.g. number is saved in the phone and not otherwise available). 1. Are detainees in detention pending deportation allowed to keep their cell phones? 1 of 6

2 2. If yes, may detainees keep smart phones or only phones without a camera function? How is this checked? 3. If yes, may all detainees keep their phones or only detainees in special areas/in presence of officers? 4. If yes, are detainees calls supervised? 5. If yes, have there been any problems in this regard (e.g. theft, use of phone during night hours disturbing the sleep of others)? 2. Responses Wider Dissemination? Austria No This EMN NCP has provided a response to the requesting EMN NCP. However, they have requested that it is not disseminated further. Belgium Yes 1. Yes, all the occupants can keep their own cell phone in the detention centres, only in case of sanctions (isolation measure i.a.) this can be limited. A project executes the recommendations given by the Federal Ombudsmen who are a controlling body linked to the Parliament in their report about closed centres. The cell phone project is in line with a policy for the humane approach towards the reception in closed centres and implies that every occupant in principle may use his/her own cell phone. 2. Only cell phones with a camera function are not allowed. This is checked during the intake-procedure, a check procedure concerning new arrivals. At night the phones may not be used at all and have to be stored in a closed cabinet. 3. In a number of detention centres the occupants who do not have a (permitted) phone can buy a phone at a reasonable price. In any case all centres put a number of cell phones at disposal in the communities for those occupants who do not have a cell phone or do not have the means to buy one. They can then activate their own SIM card with it. In this way the costs of this project remain limited to the cell phones that are made available and to any replacement needed. Pay phones were used in the past. The organisation of their use frequently caused discussions between occupants (some occupants used the phones for a long time, occupants gathered around the phone, etc.). The project removes the security risk that was mentioned and enables easier contact between the occupants and the outside world, which is calming and gives self-reliance. 4.No 2 of 6

3 5. During night hours the cell phones have to be stored in a closed cabinet. Possible risks : Occupants might come in contact with other communities in the centre in order to come to certain agreements (negative impact if riots are organised) or might contact the press in case of difficulties. Possibility of theft Cyprus Yes Detainees are not to keep their cell phones during their detention. However they have access to a pre-paid card phone which is used with limits and restrictions. Czech Republic Yes 1. No. They have access to pay-phone machines in the detention centres and are provided with phone cards Not applicable. Estonia Yes Detainees of the Expulsion Centre are not allowed to keep their mobile phones and in case of need to use a phone may use a public phone at the Expulsion Centre for which the detainee may purchase a pre-paid call card. Finland Yes 1. Detainees are allowed to keep their cell phones during detention. Phones with a camera function are kept in a safety box located in the staff office. If detainee wants to use his/her phone, the staff will transfer the phone in to a locked room, where detainee may use phone without supervising. When detainee ends his/her calls, he contacts one of the staff members who will collect the phone and return it to a safety locker. 2. Phones are being checked when detainee arrives to the detention unit. If the detainee has a phone with camera, he or she may choose to break the lens of the camera using screwdriver and a hammer, or prefer to use the safety box Detainees may hold phones without a camera function and a phone with broken camera lens without limitation or supervising. The detention unit has a couple of old phones which may be loaned during the detention (the detained persons uses his or her own sim-card). 5. Generally speaking, the Detention unit hasn t had any problems with cell phones. The detainees have not made any complaints on this matter. Difficulties have been met when a detainee has managed to bring a cell phone with camera inside the detention premises. Collecting the camera in those cases is difficult or even impossible. Regarding thefts the detainees are being told that the detention unit does not take any responsibility over the cell phones excluding the cell phones kept in a safety box. France Yes According to French Law, a free telephone access for fifty foreign inmates should be guaranteed in all detention centres. All cell phones, including cameras, are confiscated at entry into a detention centre or a waiting area, in order not to affect the rights to the image of detained persons. Due to the fact that, nowadays, a large number of cell phones are well equipped, this rule leads in practice to confiscate 3 of 6

4 most cell phones. Germany Yes 1. No. Generally, in prisons the use of mobile phones is prohibited. There are public phones available. Against unauthorized use of mobile phones jammers can be used Not applicable Hungary Yes 1-2.Detainees in detention pending deportation may not hold themselves any object which which is suitable for video and audio recording, but they may hold among technical tools battery-operated radio, headset, portable, battery-operated television. 3. Detainees can make phone calls on the phones (at only their own expense) which are provided by the detention centre. These work with card issued by the service provider. Mobile phones are treated as deposits in the detention centre deposited room indicating the name, number and characteristics. Minutes shall be made in the presence of detainees on the deposit items, and at the departures an itemized accounting will take place. 4-5.The phone conversation can be checked for security reasons, except for conversations with persons with whom they can stay in touch without control for example legal representative.the conversation can be interrupted if it threaten the security of the detention centre and implementation of custody, but the detainees must be informed about it. Italy Yes Foreign nationals hosted at Identification and Expulsion Centres in Italy pending removal are usually allowed to keep their cell phones (without camera) in some centres (8) but this is strictly forbidden in others (4). In all the cases, the Centre Management provides pre-paid cards that can be used at the telephones located inside the building. In the case of Accommodation Centres for Asylum Applicants (that in Italy are always open), the use of all kinds of cell phones is allowed. Latvia Yes In accordance with Regulation No.742 Internal Procedures Regulations of the Accommodation Centre adopted on 15 September 2008 cell phones are included in the list of prohibited articles. If a third-country national is detained and placed in the detained foreigners accommodation centre his/her belongings, documents, as well as prohibited articles seized during an inspection are kept in premises specially equipped for this purpose. When releasing a third-country national from the detained foreigners accommodation centre, valuables, belongings and money removed or handed over for storage shall be issued to a third-country national. Lithuania Yes No. Detainees at the Foreigners Registration Centre are not allowed to keep their cell phones. They can use pre-paid phones available in the Centre. 4 of 6

5 Luxembourg Yes In Luxembourg, once a detainee enters the holding facility (Centre de Rétention) his/her personal affaires are controlled and inventoried and they are noted in an inventory that has to be signed by the detainee and by the agent of the holding facility. These items are deposited under the safekeeping of the holding facility (art. 3 of Grand-ducal regulation of 17 August 2011). The detainee money is withhold and deposited in an account open under the detainee s name (art. 4 1). The detainee has the right to keep with him only personal things that are compatibles with the retention (art. 5 1). 1. Article 24 2 indicates that the director can authorise (in a case by case basis) the use of cellular phones with the condition that these instruments cannot take pictures (see also article 25 2). 2. The detainees are forbidden to have smart phones. They can have, if authorised, portable phones without cameras. Seen that the authorisation has to be issued by the Director of the holding facility and smart phones are forbidden, the guards can confiscate any telephone that is not authorised. If the detainee is authorised to use it s cellular phone, he/she has to use it under the conditions established by the Director, and that can include using it in front of the guardians and during certain hours of the day. 3. In principle, article 24 1 indicates that the director, in consideration to other detainees, can limit the use of communications and can forbid them in case of abuse (art. 24 3). 4. In principle, detainee s calls cannot be supervised. If there is an abuse, the communications will be limited or forbidden. The only way of supervising communications is if an investigation judge (juge d instruction) orders it according with article 88-1 of the Criminal Procedural Code. 5. Till now, the holding facility did not encounter any problem concerning the phones. Netherlands Yes Detainees in detention pending deportation are not allowed to keep their cell phones. They can use the phones which are present in the common living quarter. When entering the institution the detainee will receive a free phone card. If needed, extra phone cards can be purchased by the detainees themselves. Poland Yes In accordance with Polish national legislation a foreigner placed in detention has the right to communicate with Polish authorities as well as diplomatic or consular post of his/her country of citizenship in his/her personal or official matters. The foreigner is also entitled to communicate freely with non governmental organizations and international organizations providing assistance to foreigners, in particular the ones of a legal character. The rules of communicating are mostly derived from by-laws of respective detention facilities. As far as the general rules are concerned foreigners have the right to use mobile phones which do not allow to register sound or picture or to transmit this kind of data. Depending on the functioning rules prevailing in each particular detention facilities foreigners placed in detention facilities may use their mobile phones 24/7 or if it is stipulated otherwise in designated areas or during limited hours. The phone calls are not subject to any supervision. 5 of 6

6 Portugal Yes 1. Yes. The use of mobile telephones is permitted to detainees in detention pending removal according to the following schedule: Every weekday from 02:00 p.m. to 04:00 p.m. / Weekends and bank holidays from 09:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon; and from 02:00 p.m. to 04:00 p.m. 2. No restrictions are made to the use of telephones whether they have camera or not. 3. Telephones are held by SEF and only made available to lodgers during the periods of time specified in Telephone calls are not supervised. Romania No This EMN NCP has provided a response to the requesting EMN NCP. However, they have requested that it is not disseminated further. Slovak Republic Yes Because of security reasons, detainees are not allowed to keep their cell phones. Upon request they can use payphones located in the premises of the detention centre by inserting prepaid phone cards anytime. The prepaid phone cards are financed either by the detainees themselves or by the NGOs. Spain Yes 1. Detainees are not allowed to keep their cell phones in the detention centres. If they need to phone, there are public telephone booths in these centres. In individual cases detainees will be allowed to check a phone number saved in their cell phone contacts list. Sweden Yes 1. Yes, they are allowed to keep the cell phones. 2. They can have any kind of phone as long as it doesn t have a camera, this due to the protection of privacy for other detainees. 3. They can use it anywhere on the premises. 4. No, their calls are not supervised. 5. No, very few phones are reported lost or stolen. No complaints from the other detainees on being disturbed either. United Kingdom No This EMN NCP has provided a response to the requesting EMN NCP. However, they have requested that it is not disseminated further. Norway No This EMN NCP has provided a response to the requesting EMN NCP. However, they have requested that it is not disseminated further. ************************ 6 of 6