Tegretol 200, Gardenale, Phenobarbital, Carbamazempina.
These are the sedatives and anti-epileptic substances found in the blood of three immigrants, imprisoned since December 2003 in the CPT (immigrant detention center) on via Mattei in Bologna.
The news was one of many that have been circulating for some time between those that work against CPTs: associations, committees, observers, and lawyers. Everyone knows that within this prison barbiturates are used to tranquilize the immigrants waiting to be expelled, but testimonies are not easily gathered seeing that the immigrants leave the detention center only to be sent back to their country of origin.
This time, instead, there is proof. Enough to open an investigation and to get a 5 hour glimpse inside of the structure that led to the eventual sequestering of food.
The CPT under accusation is already under investigation for police beatings after an attempted immigrant escape on March 2nd, 2003. Since that date, no one has tried to escape again and there have been no more revolts or protests. Mysteriously all of the imprisoned immigrants have become silent…
The three immigrants (one called “Mummy” because he never interacted with anyone) were not sent back to their country of origin and recounted their detention experience, denouncing the hygienic situation, the denial assistance, but above all of the continuous migraines, nausea, of a reduced perceptive capacity and of the strange sleepiness after eating the meals.
The management of the CPT has been given over to the Red Cross from the police forces. Protection and order are then delegated to the Carabinieri and the police. Obviously, those responsible for the structure deny any accusation.
On the afternoon of the 20th of January, to protest the severe situation on the inside of the detention center and the responsibility of those who manage it, the seat of the Red Cross of Bologna was occupied.
This shocking news arrives only a few days before the 31st of January, the date on which, for the first time in all of Europe, diverse protests will be held simultaneously to demand the closure of these detention centers.
The 31st of January is an occasion to build a network of different experiences and realities, European and local, that have been fighting for the rights of immigrants and to denounce the deafening silence that surrounds these new prisons.