- 24 B. Conditions of detention in police and border guard stations 35. In its previous visit reports, the CPT has been very critical of the conditions of detention found in many police and border guard stations. The Committee made it clear that these establishments do not offer suitable accommodation for lengthy periods of detention. It was hoped that with the opening of the pre-departure centres, administratively detained irregular migrants would only be accommodated in such dedicated detention facilities. Instead, in the various parts of the country visited, police and border guard stations are still being used to detain irregular migrants, as well as persons on remand or even sentenced prisoners, for months on end. The conditions in which most of these persons are held can be considered as amounting to inhuman and degrading treatment. 1. Police detention facilities in the Attika region 36. The CPT has repeatedly stressed that the detention areas in the central Athens police stations are all totally unsuitable for holding detained persons for periods of longer than 24 hours. Yet, persons continue to be held in these stations for many months. Urgent steps need to be taken to remedy the deficiencies described in the paragraphs below. At Aghios Panteleimonas Police Station, nine persons were being held in the three cells (one measured some 24 m² and the two others 12.5 m²). Consequently, there was sufficient living space per detainee at the time of the visit; however, with an average occupancy of 16, the facility was often overcrowded. There was no access to natural light in the cells and the artificial lighting was poor; further, the mattresses and blankets were dirty and detainees showed multiple red marks on their arms and torso from bed bugs. There was also no outdoor exercise yard. One detainee had been held for 10 months in this facility. The detention facilities at Drapetsona Police Station consisted of two cell blocks (A and B); A block had five cells and was accommodating 17 persons while B block held 60 detainees. There was also one additional cell adjacent to B block which was accommodating six persons. Conditions in Block B were not good; cells were dirty and malodorous (toilet areas were flooded and dilapidated), had limited lighting (whether artificial or natural) and were not all equipped with mattresses and clean blankets. Hygiene was particularly poor with many detainees displaying skin rashes and bites, and complaining about a lack of hot water. Although the detainees’ cells were unlocked and they could wander around in the relatively spacious corridor area, no activities were offered and there was no outdoor exercise yard. Many of the detainees had been held at the facility for more than seven months. At Exarchia Police Station, the detention area in the basement of the building contained three cells with an official capacity of 12 persons but often held as many as 19. The cells had almost no access to natural light and the artificial lighting in the corridor was totally insufficient to illuminate the cells, leaving them in semi-darkness. The hygienic conditions were poor, the blankets were old and worn and some of the foam mattresses were disintegrating. The communal sanitary facilities (two floor-level toilets, with a shower head above each one, and two sinks) were dilapidated and fetid; further, the artificial lighting did not work and the floor was flooded. Persons had no access to newspapers, radio or to any outdoor exercise yard, let alone any purposeful activities. At the time of the visit, a 10 m² cell was accommodating five persons on four concrete plinths, one of whom had been held in the cell since 16 September 2012 (i.e. seven months).