Pagani crisis leads to the official closure of the detention center The situation in Pagani detention center was very tense in the months of September and October 2009 when the center was extremely overcrowded. There were more than 1,200 people detained in total, including over 150 women, over 70 children under the age of 12, and more than 200 unaccompanied minors and adolescents. Many migrants, including families, had already been detained for weeks without knowing when they would be released. By the beginning of September 2009 some of the unaccompanied minors had been in detention for more than two months. Women, especially those with children, could not understand why they and their children were detained and were very concerned about the bad living conditions. They were in great distress. From the second week of September until the end of October 2009 the situation was very tense, with migrants on hunger strike and protests and riots on an almost daily basis. During riots migrants burned mattresses and clothing and often took down the doors of their cells to get out into the yard. However, they stayed in the yard and never attempted to leave the premises of the detention center. During riots special police forces were called upon. Heavy police presence on a daily basis made MSF’s access to patients increasingly difficult. The situation in Pagani detention center during the fall months of 2009 is illustrative of the inhumane conditions and treatment that many migrants face in detention. Μigrants and asylum seekers detained in all three detention centers often said they were extremely frustrated at being treated “like animals”. They felt that not being allowed out of the cells, being deprived of the possibility to take care of themselves, such as being able to shower, shave and wear clean clothes, deprived them of their dignity. “How can I live here? This place is for animals. I am looking at everyone’s faces and I see only death”, a Pakistani man, in his late thirties told us. During its intervention in the three detention centers, MSF closely monitored the humanitarian condition of the detained migrants. It is evident that the current system suffers from a lack of planning, organization and chronic deficiencies in human and material resources. MSF regularly raised concerns with local and national authorities, urging them to improve living conditions in the detention centers. MSF teams undertook ad hoc distributions of personal hygiene items and drinking water to address emergency needs of the migrants. MSF also raised public awareness about the deplorable conditions in the detention centers, especially about the critical conditions in Pagani.36 On October the 22nd 2009, the Vice-Minister for Citizen’s Protection visited the detention center and announced its closure within a few weeks. The center officially closed at the end of October 2009. Since then migrants arriving on the island have been transported to a detention center on Chios Ιsland or straight to Athens. Before being transferred, they might still spend a few nights in Pagani detention center, still in substandard living conditions. © Yannis Kolesidis / Reuters 13