Abstract

Despite the succession of acronyms adopted over the years by Italian legislators, the CIEs, Centers for Identification and Expulsion of aliens, are true «administrative» prisons. The level of coercive measures adopted, the internal organization of these detention centers and the life conditions of the aliens detained, all allow defining these centers as prisons. Additionally aliens are often caught in a spiral that alternates criminal and administrative detention. The fact that CIEs are practically «administrative» prisons, whose maximum detention can reach today 18 months, demands full respect of the principles of "habeas corpus" provided for by article 13 of the Italian Constitution. It also requires, pursuant article 7 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), to deal with immigration detention as a criminal matter, thus applying the required constitutional and conventional guarantees.