ENTRY DESCRIPTION
Barbed wire, soldiers, search dogs and torchlights in the night. Even in Italy there is an internal frontline, just like in Eastern Europe. But the battle against migrants is taking place through the Identification and Expulsion Centers.
Letters from CIE is part of a bigger visual project about the Identification and Expulsion Centers in Italy.
Italy, and other European countries, are at the center of serious violations of human rights with the detention and forced deportation of thousands of migrants. The Identification and Expulsion Centers (CIEs) are deplorable examples of the contradictions of the Italian and European laws on migration.
It is extremely hard to explain the existence of CIEs. These are not regular prisons and detainees are not regular prisoners. Although foreign nationals are detained within CIEs under the status of “guests,” their stay in these poorly built structures corresponds to a de facto detention, as they are deprived of their freedom and subjected to a regime of abuse and coercion.
Despite not being actually labeled as prisons, the Centers very often resemble prisons, with distinctive features, from their impenetrable nature to barbed wire fences, barking dogs and militarized personnel; making them off limits to Italian civil society, journalists and families of the detainees, who are left alone and in deep distress. The typology of the individuals detained varies, and the length of the detention can extend up to eighteen months. Often the detainees are migrants who have been living in Italy for many years, along with their families, and whose children were born in the country. After losing their job, they cannot renew their residence permit, and if stopped by the police, they are detained in the CIEs and repatriated to their country of origin. The number of families divided by this mechanism is horribly high. Potential asylum

AUTHOR
Mario Badagliacca was born in Palermo in 1980. He graduated in Politics and International Relations at the University of Naples 'L'Orientale'. During his studies in Naples he worked with several non profit organizations. He graduated in photo reportage and photojournalism in Rome, where he is based. Focused on local realities and social issues, he is currently working on long term projects on migrants and migrant communities, paying particular attention to the cultural aspects of migration. He works with several researchers and universities (such as St. Andrews University, University of Oxford, University of Naples "L'Orientale") and his photographs have been published in national and international magazines and newspapers.
He currently collaborates with the ' Transnationalizing Modern Languages: Mobility Identity and Translation in Modern Italian Cultures' project supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council of UK and he is developing a work on Italian emigration between London, New York and Buenos Aires.

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