It is extremely difficult to obtain information about the financial cost of detention. Read the Parliamentary question of Dr. Silvana Koch-Mehrin MEP regarding this aspect: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/omk/sipade3?PUBREF=-//EP//TEXT+WQ+E-2005-1297+0+DOC+XML+V0
//EN&L=EN&LEVEL=2&NAV=S&LSTDOC=Y

AUSTRIA

There is no doubt that all forms of open accommodation are cheaper to run than closed centres. However, there may be costs saved by ensuring, by means of detention, that rejected asylum seekers who can be returned home are available for immediate return (if an individual assessment indicates a risk of absconding).
SOURCE: UNHCR LEGAL AND PROTECTION POLICY, RESEARCH SERIES, Alternatives to Detention of Asylum Seekers and Refugees, Ophelia Field with the assistance of Alice Edwards, External Consultants, DIVISION OF INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION SERVICES, POLAS/2006/03, April 2006, Extract, page 69

BELGIUM

In 2004, one day of one person in detention centre costs (at least) 38,10 €UR This is the amount, which Belgium requires from airlines that transported irregular migrants to Belgium whom they were not supposed to transport and who were consequently detained in Belgium:

Frais de séjour
En application avec l'article 74/4 de la loi du 15/12/1980, le transporteur est solidairement tenu à payer, avec l'étranger qu'il a transporté et qui par la suite d'une décision des autorités d'immigration doit être refoulé parce qu'il ne disposait pas des documents de voyage requis à l'article 2 de la loi, les frais de séjour redevables à l'Etat suite au séjour de ce dernier dans un centre fermé situé à la frontière. Le montant journalier des frais de séjour est fixé par arrêté royal.En 2003, le coût par jour s'élevait à 37,5 euros par jour par rapport à 38,10 euros par jour en 2004. Source: Rapport d'activités de l'Office des Etrangers pour l'année 2004: http://www.dofi.fgov.be/fr/activiteitenrapport/RapportActivité_2004.pdf, page 57

Presently there are 628 places in Belgian detention centres and an estimate that around 8.000 people are detained each year. (http://www.cire.irisnet.be/ouvrons/fr/centres-fermes.html#belgique). Thus, in 2004, if each person were detained for only one day, this costs at least 8.000 x 38,10 = 304.800,00 €UR.

In Belgium, a person can be detained for, initially, 2 months, and then this time can be extended to 4, 5 and 8 months and even longer because it is considered that every time a person opposes his/her removal, it is a complete new period of detention that begins (http://www.cire.irisnet.be/ouvrons/fr/centres-fermes.html#belgique). Thus, if one person is detained for, f. ex. 5 months (3 x 30 days + 2 x 31 days = 152 days) this costs at least 152 x 38,10 €UR = 5.791,20 €UR.

If 8.000 people were detained for 5 months, this costs at least 5.791,20 €UR x 8.000 = 46.329.600,00 €UR per year (2004) or, in other words, this is the amount of which the Belgian government thinks that it is justified.

BULGARIA

According to the information provided by the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of the Interior, the cost of maintaining a detained illegal migrant per day in Bulgaria amounts to 4.30 BGN (equivalent to approximately US $3), including 1.30 BGN for daily nutrition costs. No information is available on the relative costs of detention in comparison with other alternatives, but in cases where indefinite detention may occur, the authorities often find it both more humane and more affordable to release the failed asylum seeker on condition of frequent reporting requirements.
SOURCE: UNHCR LEGAL AND PROTECTION POLICY, RESEARCH SERIES, Alternatives to Detention of Asylum Seekers and Refugees, Ophelia Field with the assistance of Alice Edwards, External Consultants, DIVISION OF INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION SERVICES, POLAS/2006/03, April 2006, Extract, page 82

DENMARK

There is only one detention centre in Denmark, in Sandholm. The total budget provided to detention of asylum seekers for 2006 was close to 34 million Danish Kr. (4.560.881,00 EUR as of 6 November 2006).

SOURCE 6 November 2006: Permanent Representation of Denmark to the European Union, Brussels

GERMANY – BAVARIA, Year 2005

The total cost of pre-removal detention was 6.6 Mio EUR. Taking into account that 1.177 persons were removed and 237 persons were released, this means an average of 4.667,61 EUR per person or an average of 5.607,48 EUR per person removed. - The total cost for removal (without counting cost for persons accompanying the forcible return, such as boarder guards) was nearly 1.5 Mio EUR. Thus detention and removal together cost 8.1 Mio EUR, which amounts to an average of 6.881,90 EUR per person removed. - If an estimated 1.800,00 EUR were added for 2 persons accompanying the forcible return, such as boarder guards, the entire operation would cost approximately 8.700,00 EUR per person.
SOURCE: CONFIDENTIAL

GERMANY - BERLIN, July 2006 

 SOURCE: Abgeordnetenhaus Berlin, Drucksache 15/13 505, 14. July 2006 (http://www.parlament-berlin.de:8080/starweb/adis/citat/VT/15/KlAnfr/ka15-13505.pdf)

IRELAND – DOCHAS, June 2006

In 2005, 105 women were detained. The cost of maintaining a person per year is is approximately 219,00 €UR per day. This includes food, phone calls, health care, staffing, transport to Court, hospital etc.
SOURCE: CONFIDENTIAL

THE NETHERLANDS

A place in an open reception centre costs 13.000,00 €UR on average per person per year. The government intends to reduce this to 11.000,00 €UR. Equivalent figures for the cost of de facto detention at the application centres (ACs) are unavailable, but the deterrence effect of the accelerated procedure may be considered by some policy makers to be worth the cost.
SOURCE: UNHCR LEGAL AND PROTECTION POLICY, RESEARCH SERIES, Alternatives to Detention of Asylum Seekers and Refugees, Ophelia Field with the assistance of Alice Edwards, External Consultants, DIVISION OF INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION SERVICES, POLAS/2006/03, April 2006, Extract, page 159

POLAND 2006

The average budget for administering one pre-removal arrest with capacity for 56 persons is 414.100 PLN (1 Polish Zloty = roughly 0,25 €UR). The salaries of civil servants and technical staff are not included.
1 €UR = 4 Zloty
4 Zloty = 1 €UR
414.100 Zloty = 103.525,00 €UR per year
103.535,00 €UR per year divided by 12 months = 8.627,00 €UR per month
103.535,00 €UR per year divided by 365 days = 283,00 €UR per day
1 Vietnamese (for example) detained for 8 month: 8.627,00 €UR multiplied by 8 = 69.016,00 €UR
1 person average detained for 6 months: 8.627,00 €UR multiplied by 6 = 51.762,00 €UR
182 days = 6 months
51.762,00 €UR divided by 182 = 284,00 €UR per day
SOURCE: CONFIDENTIAL

SLOVENIA, June 2006

For detaining a person in Centre for foreigners: is 3.800 SIT per day (= approximately 15,83 €UR), an amount for only basic things; when medical care is provided, cost are higher.
SOURCE: CONFIDENTIAL

UNITED KINGDOM

Taking Haslar Removal Centre’s weekly costs as the measure, the independent research by South Bank University, which monitored 98 asylum seekers, would suggest that the Home Office spent some £430,000 detaining 73 people who would have complied anyway under alternative restrictions (reporting requirements to the police, etc.). It has long been acknowledged that the UK detention regime is extremely expensive (the planned extension which would add another 44 places for single men to the Dungavel Reception Centre is expected to cost £3 million in capital costs alone), but centralized reception systems that – intentionally or incidentally – track asylum seekers’ whereabouts in the community, are not cheap either. The UK government spent over £1 billion in 2002 on the National Asylum Support Service (serving over 100,000 asylum seekers). The government considers both sets of costs worthwhile, compared to cheaper community-based reception or the provision of direct benefits to asylum seekers living independently, so long as detention and dispersal are perceived by the British public to be ‘managing’ a threat to public order and deterring an unspecified number of future arrivals. Finally, as already mentioned, the costs of electronic monitoring may be slightly less than detention (the Home Office calculates that an average 45-day curfew under the electronic monitoring scheme for remand prisoners costs approximately £1,300) but it will not be a cost-effective measure unless it meets the test of necessity in relation to the individuals to whom it is applied.
SOURCE: UNHCR LEGAL AND PROTECTION POLICY, RESEARCH SERIES, Alternatives to Detention of Asylum Seekers and Refugees, Ophelia Field with the assistance of Alice Edwards, External Consultants, DIVISION OF INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION SERVICES, POLAS/2006/03, April 2006, Extract, page 221

Despite the fact that detention costs approx £15 million per year, the government are creating new detention centres for asylum-seekers in order to lock more people up. The Conservative party state that they would like to see all asylum-seekers imprisoned whilst their asylum claims are being determined.
SOURCE: http://www.asylumaid.org.uk/AA%20pages/detention.htm (last visit 1 March 2007)