‘A crucial comparative analysis of how carceral states, across different political terrains, brutally exploited the linked refugee and COVID-19 crises.’ Ruth Wilson Gilmore and Craig Gilmore, California Prison Moratorium Project

‘Spanning Europe’s carceral border regimes, interspliced with the poetic reflections of those who have felt the violence of their enforcement, this book offers insight into the possibilities that can emerge when public health matters more than punishment. As ever more crises hover on our horizons, this is a timely intervention for those interested in building a livable life for all, and for liberation and abolitionist futures.’ Mo Mansfield, Abolitionist Futures and INQUEST

‘Strikingly timely and insightful, this book expertly illuminates today’s rapidly evolving global migration and border crises with clarity and critical credibility.’ Moshood Olanrewaju, Society for Community Research and Action

‘This book offers a sophisticated analysis of the poetics and politics of detention and deportation. It opens up multiple avenues for critical inquiry and political imagination, providing insights that can reinvigorate transnational dialogues with engaged scholars and activists in Latin America.’ Eduardo Domenech, National Scientific and Technical Research Council, Argentina

‘A vital critique of detention and deportation in Europe, revealing how the COVID-19 syndemic deepened border violence and abolitionist horizons.’ Natália Corazza Padovani, Núcleo de Estudos de Gênero Pagu/ UNICAMP

‘A courageous, timely, much-needed collective abolitionist project unmasking border violence through rigorous scholarship and the powerful voices of racialized persons and activists.’ Giulia Fabini, University of Bologna

Francesca Esposito is Researcher in the Department of Psychology “Renzo Canestrari” at the University of Bologna, and Research Associate at the Centre for Social Justice Research at the University of Westminster and at the Centre for Criminology at the University of Oxford.

Teresa Degenhardt is Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Queen’s University Belfast and Fellow of the Senator George J Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice.

Annika Lindberg is Assistant Lecturer at the School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg, and holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Bern.

Foreword - Shahram Khosravi

Introduction - Annika Lindberg, Francesca Esposito, and Teresa Degenhardt

Poem: Breaking News - Elahe Zivardar, aka Ellie Shakiba

1. Immigration Detention and Deportation in the UK During the Time of Covid- Mary Bosworth

Poem: Did You Come Here by Boat? - Nandi Jola

2. Contours of Confinement: Evolving Dynamics of Immigration Detention and Containment in Spain Since the Covid-19 Syndemic - Ana Ballesteros-Pena

Poem: I Am Different - David Moyo

3. Unhealthy Detention: Exploring the Role of Public Health Structures in Sustaining the Greek Immigration Detention System - Andriani Fili

4. Medical Violence, Border Carcerality, and the Necropolitics of Uncare in the Italian Detention System - Francesca Esposito, Emilio Caja, Nicola Cocco

Poem: Frozen - Fadwa Abdallah

5. Border Dams and Locks: ‘The Game’, the Syndemic, and Open-Air Flexible Detention System in Serbia - Sanja Milivojevic

6. The Influence of the Covid-19 Syndemic and the Humanitarian Crisis at the Polish-Belarusian Border on Courts’ Decisions to Impose Detention - Witold Klaus

Poem: Water Runs Down My Eyes as I See No Light Ahead - Blandine Mokenge Nakie

7. Structures of Uncare: From Detention to Organized Abandonment in the Nordics - Annika Lindberg

8. From Isolation to Lockdown: Covid-19, Racialised Confinement, and Counterinsurgency in the German Asylum System - Aino Korvensyrjä

Poem: The Eagle - Sunjay Gookooluk

9. The Impact of Covid-19 at the EU Periphery: The Short-Term Detention Centre in Northern Ireland - Teresa Degenhardt

Poem: Landing - Viviana Fiorentino

Afterword - Deanna Dadusc, Papamadieye Dieye, Setareh Ghandehari, Gee Manoharan, Cheikh Sene, Steve Naogu Stawnley