The CPR between the Albania model, security decrees, and increased repression

Panopticon (CC-BY Paolo Trabattoni) — CC-BY Paolo Trabattoni

In the mainstream debate on CPRs (italian abbreviation for repatriation detention centers), the words spoken by Giorgia Meloni regarding the camps in Albania still echo, which, according to the Prime Minister, “will work.” There has been much discussion about how feasible the Italian government’s intention is, with the opposition ready to denounce the economic waste and inefficiencies rather than the usual human rights violations; meanwhile, the European Parliament has approved a new regulation that will help the right-wing project: “The new Pact on Migration and Asylum, which will come into effect in June, indeed provides that Europe makes agreements with countries candidate to join the Union for the detention of migrants in transit”[1]. This move, together with the government’s propaganda needs, has accelerated the filling of the Gjader camp in Albania, which on February 23, 2026, held 94 detainees. Just to make numbers, people were picked somewhat randomly, with arrests and transfers from other CPRs in Italy. The facility is therefore actually starting to operate, destroying the lives of the detained people, due to the State racism laws.

The Gjader CPR continues to be at the center of the clash between the government and the opposition also because it is used by Meloni in the controversy against the judges, as the recent ruling of the Rome court condemned the government to compensate a man of Algerian origin who had been transferred from the Gradisca d’Isonzo CPR to the Gjader one. The detainee had been informed of the transfer to Brindisi, but he found himself in Albania: he then managed to apply for asylum and after a month he was released.

Meanwhile, it is worth remembering how much the government’s project is still in its embryonic phase: “The Gjader center is much larger, and in the initial plans it was divided into three parts: the largest intended as a detention center with 880 places, then the one intended as a CPR and a prison (the detention center and the prison are currently empty)” [2].

Returning to Italy, and focusing the spotlight on the other CPRs, whose stories are often ignored by the media, the situation is always the same, if not worsening. In every single camp, the brutality of the police and the ferocity of the detentions persist. The people detained rebel and put their bodies at the center of the fight for freedom, a struggle that (it is worth remembering) has been able over the years to close some centers: while the opposing movements in our country have progressively struggled to sustain these protests (albeit with a few commendable exceptions), the migrant people continue to teach lessons of courage to the entire Italian left.

In the CPR of Caltanissetta, frequent violence, abuses, and punitive searches are documented. In the north, meanwhile, “the CPR of Milan has been completely renovated, bringing its capacity to cover all 4 areas and thus to contain about a hundred detainees, often just passing through as they are destined for deportation” [3]. Deaths in the CPRs are presented as natural or the result of accidental episodes, but it is the system of state racism that causes them. On February 11, 2026, Simo Said, a 25-year-old man, died in the CPR of Bari Palese [4]. This tragedy follows others, such as the death of Oussama Darkaoui in the CPR of Palazzo San Gervasio, in the province of Potenza.

Following this further state murder, which occurred on August 4, 2024, there was a revolt by the people detained in the facility exactly one year later, on the anniversary of the death of the young Moroccan: as a result of the protests, nine people were arrested. [5] As for a historically notorious lager like that of Turin, which has been the scene of revolts and ferocious repressions, “On the afternoon of Monday, February 2, following a brawl in the red area, a room in the CPR on Corso Brunelleschi in Turin was set on fire and is now completely unusable and closed. The riot police intervened with a violent beating, after which at least two people were taken away by ambulance. We also know that three people were taken away in handcuffs by the police to Le Vallette prison. For two of these, the arrest was validated with charges of arson, aggravated injuries, and aggravated resistance”[6].

A due mention must also be made of the repression targeting people who are in solidarity with the protests of those detained in the lagers. In recent years, the constant trickle of charges for simple sit-ins and demonstrations outside the CPRs has been ongoing, with the aim of breaking solidarity and hindering contacts between those inside and those outside the facilities. With the new security regulations of this government, it has obviously become even more risky to protest against the camps because even the simple voices shouting “freedom!” outside the walls of the facilities in support of detained people scare the governments.

Another obligatory note on the difference of governments: the camps, called CPT at the time, were established in 1996 by the infamous Turco-Napolitano law, voted by Romano Prodi’s center-left, also supported by the Communist Refoundation Party. Through a cumulative process, we have arrived at the current state, with additions upon additions to repression up to the Meloni government. Meanwhile, the decree law of February 24, 2026, no. 23, which introduces urgent provisions regarding public security, immigration, and international protection, has come into effect just a few days ago. In addition to establishing rules to accelerate repatriations, such as the obligation of cooperation for detained persons for the purpose of verifying their identity, in general, it seeks to rationalize the governance of deportations: “A significant chapter concerns the strengthening of the network of reception centers and centers for stay for repatriation (CPR).The text provides for measures to strengthen its capacity and improve organization, along with a simplification of the methods for notifying acts to applicants for international protection, an aspect often subject to litigation. The decree also implements the framework agreement between the government of the Italian Republic and the Swiss Federal Council to support measures in the migration sector, consolidating bilateral cooperation in the management of flows and repatriations. Finally, specific provisions are introduced regarding humanitarian activities carried out by the Italian Red Cross, with the aim of clarifying the regulatory framework [7].

These developments certainly mean a further repressive tightening against migrants, aiming to reduce the possibilities of intervention by magistrates who had hindered the government (in very rare cases), as we saw in the case of the deportation to Albania of the Algerian migrant who was in the CPR of Gradisca d’Isonzo. As always, those who will face this attempt firsthand will be the migrants themselves, who will put their bodies in front of the violent machinery of the state. The task of the movements will have to be to shed light on what happens inside the camps, but above all to expand solidarity towards the detained people by opening possible glimpses of freedom.

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