The Management of Anxiety. An Ethnographical Outlook on Self-mutilations in a French Immigration Detention Centre

This contribution examines the management of self-mutilations of detained immigrants awaiting deportation in French immigration detention centres. Drawing on ethnographic data, it analyses the struggles opposing members of detention staff over the prevention of self-inflicted wounds and the regulation of immigrant anxiety. They unfold around a contradiction: detention centres are not only a violent police institution, but also a 'humanitarian' realm, where extreme suffering calls for immediate relief. I first describe the 'risk assessment system' organised inside the detention centre to prevent mutilations through medical expertise. I then focus on practical dilemmas faced by Human Rights advocates operating inside detention centres.