Author
The detention centres operating between 2021 and 2025 were as follows:
| Total number of detainees in the main detention centres: 2021-2025 | |||||
| Centre | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
| Vordernberg Immigration Detention Centre | 1,195 | N/A | N/A | 1,062 | 1,142 |
| Vienna Roßauer Lände | 835 | 639 | N/A | 626 | 574 |
| Vienna Hernalser Gürtel | 2,721 | 2,496 | N/A | 2,629 | 2,332 |
| Zinnergasse | 7 | 5 | N/A | 5 | 11 |
Source: Ministry of Interior, Answer to a parliamentary request, 4901/AB XXVII. GP, 12 March 2021, available in German at: https://bit.ly/2P4ioeu; Ministry of Interior, Answer to a parliamentary request, 9405/AB, XXVII. GP, 28 March 2021, available in German at: https://bit.ly/3KbaS9k; Ministry of Interior, answer to parliamentary request 13976/AB XXVII. GP, 28 April 2023, available in German at https://bit.ly/425y8x; ; Ministry of Interior, Answer to parliamentary request 15846/AB, XXVII. GP, 21 November 2024, available in German at: https://shorturl.at/Ng89b. Ministry of Interior, Answer to parliamentary request 636/AB XXVIII. GP, 19 May 2025, available in German here; Ministry of Interior, Answer to parliamentary request 4290/AB, 27 March 2026, available in German here.
Furthermore, other police facilities (PAZ) that have previously been used as detention places are now used for arrest for a period not exceeding 7 days.
The detention centre in Vordernberg, established in January 2014, allows detainees to stay outside their cell during the day. It is located in a very rural area with no civil society organisation working close by.
Women or unaccompanied children aged more than 14 years old are generally detained in separate cells in practice. Moreover, some detention centres are particularly adapted to vulnerable persons. This is the case of the detention centres in Vienna, Roßauer Lände. The detention centre in Vienna Zinnergasse is used for families with children and unaccompanied children. There are further twelve family apartments in which families are detained for a maximum of 48 hours after having been informed of their deportation date. Moreover, one floor of the same building is used for less coercive measures and has 17 housing units, one of which is adapted to disabled persons. Detainees are allowed to leave the centre during the day.[1]
Airport (de facto) detention facility
At the Vienna Schwechat Airport, the initial reception centre is under the responsibility of the border police. Since December 2020, the Federal Agency BBU GmbH is in charge of providing basic care at the airport. The capacity of the airport facility is 28 persons.
[1] Sonja Jell, ‘Alternative zur Schubhaft’, Öffentliche Sicherheit 5-6/12, available here.