Coercive detention
The arrangement of compulsory detention is regulated in Germany in §§ 96 ff. Of the Law on Administrative Offenses (OWiG). Enforcement is based on §§ 451 ff. Of the Code of Criminal Procedure (StPO). Detention is not a punishment for the administrative offense committed, but rather a means of contraction. There are two reasons for imposing coercive detention.
The court may order coercive first, where the fine is not paid and the person does not explain why he can not pay. He must have been advised of the possibility of compulsory detention in the notice of the fine. The duration of imprisonment for a fine may not exceed six weeks, and for several fines combined in one fine decision, three months. It is calculated in days, taking into account the amount of money to be paid, and cannot be extended afterwards, only shortened.
Second, coercive detention can be ordered to obtain a testimony - as part of a procedure. In criminal proceedings, pretrial detention ends in accordance with Section 70 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure either with the conclusion of the underlying proceedings or at the latest after six months after the start of the forced detention. The procedural rules also enable enforcement detention in civil ( Section 390 (2 ) ZPO), labor court ( Section 46 (2 ) ArbGG), administrative ( Section 98 VwGO) and social court proceedings ( Section 118 (1) SGG).
Coercive detention can also be considered in the event of failure to provide asset information in accordance with Section 802g ZPO.
The coercive detention is not to be confused with the substitute compulsory detention .
The person concerned can avert or terminate the enforcement at any time by paying the requested amount of money or by fulfilling his duty to disclose. The execution of the detention does not exempt from the obligation to pay or to give evidence. Compulsory detention is a means of coercion that is intended to break the will of the person concerned. If the refusal to testify subsequently proves to be justified or if a right to refuse arises later, the detention must be lifted.
The legal remedy of an immediate complaint against the order is permissible ( Section 311 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, Section 390 (3 ) of the Code of Civil Procedure).
For the enforcement of coercive mutandis § 171 of the penal law , the rules on the implementation of (the Prison Act) imprisonment accordingly. Joint accommodation with “criminal” prisoners is only permitted with the consent of the person concerned. Likewise, the person concerned does not have to wear any prison clothing, is allowed to use his own bed linen and, unlike the "criminal" prisoner, is not obliged to work in the institution.
Neither the order of detention nor the setting of the fine are entered in the Federal Central Register.
historically see also: debt tower
