Every year, in Italy, thousands of foreign citizens are kept inside the identification and expulsion centers because they lack a regular residency permit. They may be kept there up to a year and a half without being guilty of a crime and without being convicted by a judge. Administrative detention in Europe is the extreme consequence of the operation of the borders inside the Schengen area. For the very first time in Italy, the Home office has authorized the access of a film crew to the Identification and Expulsion Centers. Finally, the wall of silence surrounding these centers and the people kept inside, has opened up, for our short visit, as an exception. But it was soon after closed in its daily indifference.
