Author
According to Article 81(2) FNIA, “detention shall take place in detention facilities intended for the enforcement of preparatory detention, detention pending deportation and coercive detention. If this not possible in exceptional cases, in particular because of insufficient capacity, detained foreign nationals must be accommodated separately from persons in pre-trial detention or who are serving a sentence”.[1] In a judgment issued in March 2020, the Federal Supreme Court stated that detention for immigration related purposes must take place in especially dedicated facilities and conceived for this scope, and that detention in a non-specialised facility – even in a separated section – is only admissible for a short time, in exceptional and well-founded cases.[2] A practice of placement of asylum seekers and other foreigners in administrative detention where people detained under the penal code are also held, would therefore be considered unlawful, even in separated areas. The Supreme Court also stated that unlawful administrative detention can lead to compensation by the state in accordance with Article 5 para 5 ECHR.[3]
Specialised facilities, prisons and pre-trial facilities
In practice, asylum applicants are regularly detained in prisons or pre-trial detention facilities as there are very few detention centres used exclusively for immigration detention. To this latter category belong the following six facilities: the Centre for administrative detention under foreigners’ law (ZAA)[4] in the canton of Zurich (130 places), Sion[5] (22 places) in the Canton of Valais, Bässlergut (40 places) in the canton of Basel-Stadt, Frambois (20 places) and Favra (20 places) in the canton of Geneva, and the regional prison of Moutier (28 places) in the canton of Bern. While Favra and Moutier have been strongly criticised in the past, [6] the detention centre of Frambois has by far the most liberal detention conditions in Switzerland. Resulting from an inter-cantonal cooperation (“Concordat”) of three cantons (Geneva, Vaud and Neuchâtel)[7], it is the only detention centre that is not a (former) prison.[8] A few other facilities detain exclusively foreigners in administrative detention but are situated right next to and managed together with a prison for penal use. It is the case of Bässlergut (Basel City, 40 places) and the Centre for the administrative detention of foreigners in Zurich (next to Zurich-Kloten airport), the latter having a capacity of 130 places.[9]
Since the detention of asylum applicants in Switzerland takes the form of pre-removal detention, there is no specialised facility for asylum applicants only, but asylum applicants are detained together with irregular migrants and foreign nationals without or having lost their residence permit.
Given the decentralised nature of immigration detention in Switzerland, it is difficult to provide for a list of the facilities used for this purpose. According to a 2018 report of monitoring in the area of liberty deprivation, there were 22 facilities carrying out immigration detention, including separate sections within prisons, totalling a capacity of 352 places. The number of 22 facilities is probably an underestimation since it only includes facilities that permanently reserve some places for immigration detention, but it can also happen that other facilities hold immigration detainees for a few days. Indeed, in the 2019 Catalogue of penitentiary establishments published by the Federal Statistical Office, 13 additional facilities are said to be used for the execution of detention under the FNIA.[10]
According to the information provided by the SEM in March 2025, there were 260 places of detention throughout Switzerland that are used for administrative detention in accordance with immigration law.
Airport transit zones
The SEM should provide persons who lodged an asylum application at the airport with a “place of stay and appropriate accommodation” in case entry is temporarily denied.[11] Maximum stay in the transit zone is 60 days in total.[12] The centre in the transit zone of Geneva airport has a capacity of 30 places.[13] For the purpose of this report, we qualify these as detention centres, although people are not formally detained and can leave the centre and remain in the airport transit zone in principle.
Reception centres in isolated areas
As detailed in Freedom of Movement and the question of de facto detention in Switzerland accommodation in federal asylum centres that are located in isolated areas may be considered as constituting de facto detention in some cases. See also Types of Accommodation.
[1] This formulation was introduced on 1 June 2019 in order to align with Article 16(1) of the Return Directive and interpretation of the CJEU and sets a clearer framework for immigration detention, which requires specialised facilities.
[2] Federal Supreme Court, Decision 2C_447/2019, 21 March 2020. In the case under exam, the Court ruled that Articles 81(2) FNIA had not been violated because detention was short (4 days) and motivated (facilitating transportation to the airport). See also: Jörg Künzli, Kelly Bishop, Ausländerrechtliche Administrativhaft in der Schweiz: Menschenrechtliche Standards und ihre Umsetzung in der Schweiz, Swiss Centre of Expertise in Human Rights, Bern, 28 May 2020, 4, available here.
[3] Federal Supreme Court Decision 2C_361/2022, 6 February 2024.
[4] Zentrum für ausländerrechtliche Administrativhaft (ZAA).
[5] Bulletin Valais, ‘Stratégie pénitentiaire « Vision 2030 »’, 25 May 2024, available in French.
[6] NCPT, Bericht an den Regierungsrat des Kantons St.Gallen betreffend den Besuch der Nationalen Kommission zur Verhütung von Folter in den Gefängnissen der Kantonspolizei St.Gallen vom 5. und 6. Oktober 2015, 17 March 2016, 9; NCPT, Bericht an den Regierungsrat des Kantons Bern betreffend den Besuch der Nationalen Kommission zur Verhütung von Folter im Regionalgefängnis Moutier vom 28. Juni 2019, 1 April 2020, available here. See also Decision 2C_765/2022, 13 October 2022 on the Regional prison of Moutier.
[7] See the website on the inter-cantonal cooperation of the Heads of the police and justice Departments of the “Latin cantons” that also contains a description of the detention centre: La Conférence latine des Chefs des Départements de justice et police (CLDJP), available here. The legal basis for the detention centre and a description of the centre is available here.
[8] Jörg Künzli, Kelly Bishop, Ausländerrechtliche Administrativhaft in der Schweiz: Menschenrechtliche Standards und ihre Umsetzung in der Schweiz, Swiss Centre of Expertise in Human Rights, Bern, 28 May 2020, p. 4, available here.
[9] Canton of Zurich, ‘Centre for Administrative Detention under Immigration Law’, available here.
[10] Federal Office of Statistics, Catalogue des établissements pénitentiaires, last update on January 2020, available here. The new digital version of the Catalogue does not provide for this information.
[11] Article 22(3) AsylA. See Border Procedure.
[12] Article 22(5) AsylA.
[13] SEM, Handbook on Asylum and Return, chapter C2, 4.