Out of the spotlight: The rights of foreigners and minorities are still a grey area is the size of the space of the yard. In Vrysika, as in Mytilini, this area is relatively large, while in Peplo it consists of a raised, concrete, covered veranda, fenced with iron bars, which stretches along the length of the wards and is about three to four metres wide. Such overcrowding and lack of facilities fall below international guidelines as set out in the UN’s Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. Even though detainees complained about problems relating to overcrowding, including reporting widespread depression and suicidal tendencies, by far the most urgent problem they emphasized was lack of communication, both with their families and with lawyers. Police officers in charge at the centres confirmed the lack of phone booths inside the detention areas. In some of the centres, such booths were located outside the boundaries of the centre and detainees were occasionally taken out with police escort and allowed to use nearby phone booths. In other cases, however, 29 such booths were unavailable in the vicinity and thus detainees reported that they had been unable to contact their families and relatives since their arrest. Y.S., an Iraqi national of 24, who had been arrested and detained upon entry into Greece stated: “there is no phone here and I have not spoken to my parents since I came here… they do not know whether I am dead or alive… my mother has a heart problem, and I have not been able to phone and let her know… we have not died but I wish I had.” He claimed that for the first month of his detention he slept on a carton and that people in his dormitory room had “insects” on their skin. He said that they had nothing to do all day and spent a lot of time playing chess with pieces they had cut out of cardboard. View of the detention centre in the area of Pagani, Mytilini island © Amnesty International Amnesty International 5 October 2005 AI Index: EUR 25/016/2005