“Yes, But Somebody Has to Help Them, Somehow:” Looking at the Italian Detention Field through the Eyes of Professional Nonstate Actors

Abstract

Although migration-related detention has proliferated around the world, little is known about life inside these sites of confinement for illegalized non-citizens. Building on 34 months of fieldwork, this article examines the lived experiences of center staff and external civil-society actors engaged within Rome’s detention center. We discuss the emotional, ethical, and political challenges faced by these professional actors in their everyday work and their relationship with detainees. Our aim is to shed light on psychosocial life in detention and the intersections between humanitarian and security logics in this setting. In doing so, we problematize the idea that “humanizing detention” can be a solution for change.

Gender, Vulnerability and Everyday Resistance in Immigration Detention: Women’s Experiences of Confinement in a Portuguese Detention Facility

“…To date, this centre is the sole detention facility in the Portuguese territory and has the official mission to hold 'in dignified and human conditions' (Decree-Law 44/2006) up to 30 people (men, women, and eventually their children) subject to a 'removal order'. As observed in other countries, such as Belgium (Crosby 2016) or Italy (Campesi 2015;Esposito, Ornelas, Scirocchi et al 2020), these sites, and the migration management regime more generally, rely on a close articulation between humanitarian and security rationalities. Among other things, this articulation, and particularly what has been defined as a humanitarian government of migration (Agier 2011;Fassin 2012), plays a crucial role in legitimising detention in the eyes of the public.…”

“…Firsthand accounts reveal that gender also matters in detention, where it shapes the perceptions and expectations of detainees and staff alike Bosworth and Slade 2014;Esposito, Ornelas, Scirocchi et al 2020). Both groups draw on gendered and sexualised (as well as racialised) identities, stereotypes and norms to make sense of their own and others' experience, to interact with each other, and to cope with and navigate detention's uncertain and volatile environments.…”

Securitisation as the Work of Framing

“…In order to operationalise specific meanings that operate within the security master frame, I propose to use the term security logic. "Security logic" has become relatively popular among securitisation scholars, being extensively used in several works on securitisation practice and theory (Balzacq, 2015;Bourbeau, 2014;Esposito et al, 2020;Niemann & Schmidthäussler, 2014). In security literature, there have been very few but notable attempts to conceptualise what security logic entails (Balzacq, 2015;Huysmans, 1998Huysmans, , 2006.…”

Ireland's White Paper to End Direct Provision (2021): Migrant Accommodation and Control

“…Ireland's White Paper to End Direct Provision is a welcome intervention in the Irish IP applications/support process, but a complicated landscape of power and power projection is discernible. As a result, the tensions between the White Paper's projected headline “regime of care” and Ireland's underlying and unaltered “regime of command and control” are set in stark relief from the outset (see, Esposito et al 2021, 169). Replacing the current DP accommodation system with a diffuse network of “person-centred” accommodations could certainly change the tenor of Ireland's IP engagement at the local level.…”