The European Union's top court ruled Thursday that member states cannot jail foreigners awaiting expulsion by arguing there are no special detention centres to hold such people. An EU state "cannot cite the absence of such detention facilities as a reason for holding such foreigners in prison," the European Court of Justice said. "That is also the case even if the person concerned agrees to be placed in prison," it said in a ruling on three cases in the Bavaria and Hesse regions in Germany.
The court was asked for a ruling by German judicial authorities in the cases of a Syrian woman held in a jail due to the lack of a centre for women, a Moroccan jailed in Munich because there was no detention centre, and a Vietnamese woman who agreed to be housed in a prison. In Germany, each regional authority is responsible for the detention of people awaiting expulsion, but the court ruled it was up to federal authorities to ensure people were transferred elsewhere when there were no centres. EU member states could only use prison facilities in the most exceptional cases and even then they must ensure that the person is kept separate from ordinary inmates, the court added.