Delays in the expansion of the deportation prison in Pforzheim!

Delays in the expansion of the deportation prison in Pforzheim!

In the shadow of the Pforzheim deportation detention center, there is a risk of further delays: the planned expansion, which was supposed to increase the capacity from the current 51 to 80 places, will not be completed this year as planned. Instead, completion is now not expected until spring 2027, as n-tv reports. The difficulties in construction are manifold, ranging from unforeseeable findings that occurred during the planning and construction phases to poor performance by planning offices.

The facility currently houses 45 men who are currently being deported. The average length of stay is around 23 days. Although the prison was originally supposed to be expanded for 9 million euros, the costs have currently risen to over 13 million euros. This is not only a financial problem, but also a logical one, because the demand for deportation places is high. As early as May 2025, 45 people were in the facility every day, and at that time there were around 23,700 people in Baden-Württemberg who were required to leave the country and whose deportation has been suspended for the time being.

Challenges and statistics

The deportation detention center in Pforzheim, which opened in 2016 as a former youth center, is now 90 percent full. This complicates the situation because there are always people who are obliged to leave the country and are waiting to be returned to their countries of origin. According to the Karlsruhe regional council, around 252 employees manage the complex processes of the deportation process. Difficulties often arise when carrying out deportations, such as a lack of identification documents or health problems for those affected.

• Bis Ende April 2025 hatten rund 1.580 Personen allein im Südwesten die Rückkehr angetreten, verglichen mit 1.130 im Vorjahr.
• Die meisten Abschiebungen betreffen sogenannte sichere Herkunftsländer, wie Nordmazedonien oder Georgien.
• Die Gründe für nicht durchführbare Abschiebungen sind vielseitig und stellen die Organisation vor erhebliche Herausforderungen.

The legal framework for detention pending deportation is structured in a complex manner in Germany. They are primarily seen as a last resort to persuade people who are required to leave the country to leave the country, as for many an order for deportation or a rejected asylum application is the reason for their detention. The European Return Directive also requires a clear separation between detention pending deportation and prison, but reports from human rights organizations show that these requirements are not always adhered to.

Social impact

The public discussion about detention pending deportation in Germany is often characterized by critical perspectives. The condition that inmates are locked in cells during the night while being able to spend their time in lounges with cooking facilities during the day raises questions. Access to communication tools is severely limited; Cell phones are not allowed, which further increases the isolation of the inmates. These circumstances lead to increased questions regarding human dignity and the treatment methods in the respective facilities. According to [Deutschlandfunk](https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/ab Schiebehaft-abschiebung-asylsuche-fluechtende-100.html), there are also reports of inhumane treatment that affects not only the inmates, but also society as a whole.

The need to expand the detention center reflects the difficult conditions in which the deportation process takes place. With increasing pressure to accommodate those forced to leave the country, the question arises as to how humane and sustainable this type of confinement actually is and what changes would be necessary to meet the challenges of asylum law and refugee policy.