Bavaria has 150 new places for deportation detainees. Justice Minister Georg Eisenreich (CSU) opened a new deportation prison in Hof on Monday. The first cells should be occupied in just a few days. In total, up to 150 deportation detainees can be accommodated in the new facility, including 16 women, as the Ministry of Justice announced on Monday. The government put the total cost at 78.5 million euros. 57 percent of the foreigners deported from Bavaria in the past year had previously appeared to the police in Germany, it said on Monday. In total, there were 1558 deportations from Bavaria in the past year – significantly fewer than in the previous year, due to the pandemic, when there were 3545. Anyone who does not have a right of residence in Germany and does not leave voluntarily will be deported after a corresponding official and possibly also judicial procedure.
In total, there are around 300 places available for deportation detainees in Bavaria – that is more than a third of the nationwide capacity. Other larger European countries such as France or Great Britain have significantly more places available for deportation. There had also been political discussions about the disproportion time and again. According to the law, detainees cannot be housed with prisoners. The new facility in Hof was built in the vicinity of the existing correctional facility. Both facilities are separate, but use common infrastructure, for example for the supply of district heating, it said.
In addition to the new facility in Hof, Bavaria has additional deportation detention sites in Eichstätt (90), in Erding (24) and at Munich Airport (22). In Passau the construction of a nationwide unique “combi-facility” with 450 detention places is planned. Of these, 100 should be reserved for detention pending deportation, the number should be expandable up to 200.