A coalition of organizations monitoring migration policy in Italy is demanding the shutdown of repatriation centres (CPRs). The facilities do not guarantee the fundamental rights of immigrants and should be closed, according to the Tavolo Asilo e Immigrazione (TAI) umbrella group.
Repatriation centers (CPRs) in Italy fail to guarantee fundamental rights, putting migrants in a condition of isolation, dehumanisation and decay, according to the report 'Italy's CPRs: total institutions' (Cpr d’Italia: istituzioni totali), presented by the migration monitoring group Tavolo Asilo e Immigrazione (TAI) on January 28.
The study, which describes a system that is incompatible with the rule of law as well as ineffective, was presented for the first time at the Senate in Rome.
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'Use of psychotropic drugs, self-harm episodes, suicide attempt', report denounces
The report hailed the lesson taught by psychiatrist and neurologist Franco Basaglia, who inspired the law that closed mental asylums in 1978, noting that CPRs cannot be improved and should be permanently shut down.
The Tavolo Asilo e Immigrazione also urged to eliminate administrative detention from migration policies and base them on hosting, inclusion and the respect of human dignity.
The source of data presented in the report is the Trattenuti (detained) project promoted by ActionAid and the University of Bari.
During the course of 2025, delegations including MPs and operators visited 10 CPRs across Italy, reporting limitations to access imposed on independent observers and the obstacles put in place to prevent inspections.
The 2025 Report, in coordination with the initiative 'Marco Cavallo's journey' (a statue made in 1973 by the patients and operators of a mental asylum in Trieste run by Basaglia), organized by the Mental Health Forum, placed mental well-being at the center of the analysis.
In CPRs, "health rights are systematically compromised," the study noted, citing "privatized healthcare, territorial inequalities, delays in treatment, scarce coordination with public services".
"Improper use of psychiatric drugs, episodes of self-harm and suicide attempts have been documented," it also denounced.
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'Grave limitations to legal representation'
CPRs are not just facilities "hosting pre-existent conditions of fragility" but also "generate psychophysical deterioration and loss of dignity," said the report.
Moreover, it denounced the "grave limitations to legal representation" with difficulties faced by foreign residents in "getting a lawyer", noting they had access only to "fragmented information" and had "scarce awareness" of their juridical status.
According to TAI, "material conditions are degraded" with "overcrowding, poor hygiene, isolation and forced inactivity. All this reflects a logic of containment and control, not safeguard."
Moreover, the report mentioned economic and management issues: in 2024, over half of the places were reportedly unavailable in CPRs, with a growing percentage of spaces that were formally active but empty.
The effectiveness of repatriation policies is also dropping, per the report. Only 10.4 percent of measures in 2024 took place through a CPR, showing that the system is "expensive and inefficient", the study said.