4 TESTIMONIES OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN DETAINED Detention of asylum seekers and migrants is not a humane situation. Recovering from the experience is difficult and sometimes impossible. Detention itself can cause trauma and the poor living conditions in detention add to the problem. People live in cramped environments, sometimes in police cells, without any access to psychological help, and are often held for an indefinite period of time. The mental strain this causes has led to deaths by suicide as well are prevented people from receiving necessary medical treatment. In March 2021, two people died while in detention. The first case concerned a young man in his 20s who had already been detained for 16 months. He died by suicide in the detention centre at Korinthos upon learning that his detention would be extended again. 29 The second case concerned a 44-year-old man in Kos, where people applying for asylum receive blanket detention decisions. He died in detention while waiting for medical care for a treatable disease. 30 The people interviewed as part of this research spoke of a feeling of total abandonment. They described how their living conditions while in detention have affected their mental health and well-being. These testimonies confirm that detention should not be an option for people who are simply seeking safety and should be the last resort for migrants not seeking asylum. Difficulties navigating the asylum application system Abdul* is a young Afghan man who was in Greece for two years. For more than three months, he tried to apply for asylum. But he faced many challenges in his asylum application, due to well-documented barriers such as the difficulties involved in the online Skype system. Abdul was put in detention as he was unable to apply for asylum. ‘I miss everything out there. It is the first time I am being detained and I am very scared. I need to get out of here, I need legal documents and just a living space to call my own. I have no one here.’ While he did not complain about his treatment while in detention, the interview was held under constant police supervision. Abdul did mention that he had developed a skin condition due to bugs in the mattresses, indicating the poor hygiene situation. 10