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Contents
List of figures and graphs ... xiv
List of abbreviations ... xvi
Introduction ... 1
1. What are closed centres? ... 1
2. Scope of the study ... 5
3. Theoretical approach ... 11
4. Hypotheses, research questions and outline of the chapters ... 13
A sociological, genetic structuralism ... 21
1. Street-level bureaucrats and the use of discretion ... 22
2. Limitations of the street-level approach ... 24
2.1. Examples of limitations in the literature ... 24
2.2. Field theory to bridge the limitations ... 27
3. Fields of symbolic production, struggles for symbolic power ... 32
3.1. The emergence of fields and the process of autonomisation ... 32
3.2. The state and the field of power ... 34
3.3. The policy-making field ... 36
3.4. The organisation as a field ... 39
3.4.1. Similarities with organisational theory ... 40
3.4.2. Contribution of field theory to organisational theory ... 42
3.4.3. Applying field theory to the study of immigration bureaucracies ... 44
Methodopraxis ... 49
1. Reconstructing the historical fields ... 50
1.1. Parliamentary works, laws and decrees ... 51
1.2. Circular instructions ... 52
1.3. Statistical series ... 53
1.3.1. Data on expulsions ... 53
1.3.2. Immigrations and emigrations ... 54
1.3.3. Economic indicators ... 55
1.3.4. Pertinence and limits of the statistical data ... 56
2. The fieldwork ... 57
2.1. Preparing and accessing the fieldwork ... 57
2.2. A multi-sited and comparative fieldwork ... 60
2.2.1. Selection criteria ... 61
2.2.2. Structure of the fieldwork ... 62
2.2.3. Earning trust ... 65
2.2.4. Advances and setbacks ... 67
2.2.5. The intra-organisational field as source of information ... 68
2.3. Data collection and processing ... 71
3. Notes for the reader ... 72
Advocating insecurity ... 75
1. The struggle for the power to define legitimate movement ... 76
2. The primitive accumulation of symbolic capital (1830-1914) ... 80
2.1. The battle in parliament ... 82
2.2. The accumulation of state capital and the focus on identification ... 84
2.2.1. The objective position of the SP ... 84
2.2.2. Actions and position-takings of the SP ... 85
3. The SP’s loss of symbolic power (1930-1974) ... 92
3.1. The changing legitimacy ... 93
3.2. Joining the regulation train ... 96
3.3. Negotiating powers ... 98
3.4. The balance of power after the official stop of labour migration ... 102
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4. Institutionalising detention (1986-1993) ... 105
4.1. Vertical policy-making and venue-shopping ... 106
4.2. Implementing the securitarian agenda ... 108
4.3. The new autonomy of the field ... 112
5. Testing the (relative) autonomy of the field ... 117
5.1. 1835-1872... 118
5.2. 1873-1914... 119
5.3. 1920-1939... 121
5.3.1. Note on the period 1948-1974 ... 123
5.4. 1989-2017... 124
6. The correspondence between field and institution ... 125
Humanisation and bureaucratic power struggles ... 131
1. The immigration office as a field ... 131
2. The arbitrary period (1988-2000) ... 134
2.1. General trends ... 134
2.2. The problem: lack of structure and the reign of security ... 137
2.2.1. The lack of structure ... 137
2.2.2. The “hard teams” and the “softies” ... 138
2.2.3. Security versus management ... 140
2.3. The solution: the bureaucratisation of the different services ... 141
2.4. Configuration of the field during the arbitrary period ... 146
3. The securitarian period (2000-2005) ... 147
3.1. Characteristics of the securitarian regime ... 148
3.2. Tension between the security and educators ... 150
3.3. The limits of the securitarian regime ... 152
4. The period of cooperation (2005-present) ... 157
4.1. Acknowledging that the system produces violence ... 159
4.1.1. Recognising the detainee ... 159
4.1.2. Unnecessarily strict rules and sanctions ... 159
4.1.3. The attitude of staff ... 161
4.1.4. Violence as the unintended consequence of poor organisation ... 162
4.2. Integrating staff and detainees ... 163
4.3. A precarious compromise or the limits of cooperation ... 166
5. Humanisation, new public management, and the sempiternal return of security ... 169
The daily reproduction of order ... 177
1. The spatial organisation of the centres ... 178
1.1. Centrum voor illegalen Merksplas (CIM) ... 178
1.1.1. General organisation ... 178
1.1.2. Spaces used by staff ... 182
1.1.3. Spaces used by detainees ... 185
1.2. “127 bis” in Steenokkerzeel ... 187
1.2.1. General organisation ... 187
1.2.2. Spaces used by staff ... 190
1.2.3. Spaces used by detainees ... 191
1.3. Centre pour illégaux Vottem (CIV) ... 193
1.3.1. General organisation ... 193
1.3.2. Spaces used by staff ... 197
1.3.3. Spaces used by detainees ... 198
2. Entering the centres ... 200
2.1. Intake procedures ... 200
2.1.1. The administrative intake ... 201
2.1.2. The medical intake ... 203
2.1.3. The social intake ... 204
2.1.4. The educator’s intake ... 206
2.2. Precaution: care and risk ... 207
3. Life on the wings ... 209
3.1. Routines of identification ... 209
3.1.1. The badge system ... 210
3.1.2. Headcounts ... 211
3.1.3. Searches and checks ... 212
3.2. The sanction and favours regime ... 214
3.2.1. The regime in Vottem ... 215
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3.2.2. The regime in Merksplas and Steenokkerzeel ... 217
3.3. Responsibilisation ... 218
4. Precaution: exceptions as strategy ... 220
5. Decentralising the pressure ... 225
6. Space and the emergence of order ... 232
The structure of security ... 237
1. An archaeological approach ... 237
2. The primary task of immigration detention centres ... 241
2.1. The allocation of means ... 242
2.2. The manifest disaster criterion and the virtuoso professional ... 244
3. Approaches to order and corresponding gaze ... 249
3.1. Approaches in the prison literature ... 250
3.1.1. The disciplinary approach ... 250
3.1.2. The social approach ... 251
3.1.3. The situational approach ... 252
3.2. Correspondence between evolution of the centres and the different approaches ... 254
4. The biographical approach ... 256
5. The complementarity of approaches ... 262
Social staff as risk managers and the emergence of the detainee-subject ... 273
1. Introduction ... 273
2. Epistemic tensions, pragmatic solutions ... 277
2.1. The tension between the will to know, the duty of confidentiality and equal treatment ... 277
2.2. Local and expert knowledge ... 279
2.2.1. The medical codes ... 283
2.2.2. Directives on interventions and interactions (DII) ... 284
3. The construction of the detainee-subject ... 290
3.1. The multidisciplinary meetings ... 291
3.1.1. The EZA-meetings ... 292
3.1.2. The special wing-meetings ... 293
3.1.3. The general multidisciplinary meetings ... 294
3.2. Pathology and tautology ... 296
3.2.1. The case of “the lawyer” ... 298
3.2.2. The case of Jack ... 300
4. Correspondences ... 304
4.1. Decision-making structure and organisational field in Merksplas and Steenokkerzeel ... 304
4.2. Decision-making structure and organisational field in Vottem ... 308
4.2.1. Dividing lines within and across teams ... 308
4.2.2. The impact of the setting ... 312
4.3. Decision-making structure and detainee-subject ... 313
4.4. The correspondence between organisational field and detainee-subject ... 317
5. Social staff as risk managers ... 321
Field structure and social structure ... 329
1. Introduction ... 329
2. The evolution of the relations of power in the centres ... 333
2.1. The position of the IO and the regulation of capital ... 335
2.2. The evolution of organisational uncertainties ... 340
3. The correspondence between position and legitimacy ... 344
3.1. Compelled vicinity and degree of “dirty work” ... 347
3.2. Stigma and dirty work ... 352
3.3. Trajectories of staff and detainees ... 355
4. Detention, recognition and hysteresis ... 360
5. Humanisation as a symbolic system ... 364
Conclusions ... 373
1. Detention ... 373
2. Humanisation ... 379
References ... 389
Literature ... 389
Reports and statistical sources ... 404
Internal documents ... 407
Parliamentary works ... 408
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Circular letters and instructions ... 408
Annexes ... 411
Annex 1 – organisational chart of the IO ... 411
Bureau T ... 411
The execution bureaus ... 412
Annex 2 – list of interview broken down by category ... 416
Annex 3 – statistical tables ... 416
1. 1835-1872... 417
2. 1873-1914... 418
3. 1920-1939... 419
4. 1960-1974... 420
5. 1989-2016... 420
