From the “Jungle” to the “Prison” Two years ago, in February 2020, the previous Reception and Identification Center (RIC) on Samos housed about 7,200 people – nearly 10 times its capacity.3 These overcrowded conditions resulted in many people living in makeshift tents in inhuman and degrading conditions, in the wider forest area known as the "jungle".4 The previous RIC was about 400 meters from the city center and within a 10-minute walk, asylum seekers could have access to essential services and goods, interact with the local society and engage in social activities. Although conditions were still inhumane, before the pandemic, asylum seekers were able to move freely in and out of the camp. Now, two years later, Samos has become a center for reports 5 and complaints6 of illegal pushbacks. The island only hosts 372 people seeking asylum 7 in the new camp, located in the remote Zervou area. The new Closed and Controlled Facility or camp has a capacity of 3,000 residents, including 900 in the pre-removal detention section that has not been yet operational. The camp is heavily fortified and guarded 24/7 by the Greek police and a private security company. 8 It is surrounded by two layers of barbed wire and has additional internal fences between its different areas; with even the kindergarten being surrounded by fences. To walk from container to the administrative services’ office inside the camp, residents must pass through a gate manned by a security officer and submit to a security check and have a metal detector bodily check. There are security guards patrolling elevated observation posts and monitoring a closed-circuit surveillance system9 with camera surveillance and motion analysis algorithms monitoring the behaviour and movement of residents inside the camp. This level of supervision, which is fully funded by the EU, could be viewed as an invasion of an asylum seekers’ right to private and family life.10 To enter and exit the camp, residents have to go through turnstiles, magnetic gates, x-rays and pass through a two-factor access control system (electronic card and fingerprint). In addition, each time camp residents return, they are subjected to body and bag searches and pass again through a metal detector.11 Even children attending school, are forced to undergo this exhausting screening twice a day. According to the General Regulation on the operation of Islands’ CCACs, residents are only allowed to exit and enter the camp during a specific window of time. In case of absences or lateness, those residents can be punished with a decision of termination of residence and the material reception conditions provided, meaning cash assistance and food.12 Legal aid organizations operating on Samos report cases where the security guards did not let a resident enter the site as he was absent for one day without notice, where the administration rejected a resident’s request without justification for a few days-absence for personal reasons, and where the administration did not approve the exit for residents to go to work or volunteer. These instances raise concerns that the administration and security service of the camp are arbitrarily preventing exit without following official procedures, without written justified decisions, and in violation of procedural safeguards and residents’ rights. Lawyers supporting asylum seekers through their asylum application process report incidents where they had to wait for unreasonable time at the gate for their entrance to be approved and/or that they were being followed by security guards while visiting their clients inside the camp. Additionally, a resident reported that when journalists visited the facility, they were accompanied by security guards, and residents did not feel free to express their views. MSF reported that the majority of their mental health patients on Samos present symptoms of depression and PTSD and denounced the deterioration of these people’s mental and physical well-being in the new closed camp.13 3 “Since November, we don’t have the right to exit; it is like living in a prison. The only thing that changed comparing to the old camp, the only improvement is that here we live in containers; for the rest, the new center is worse; we don’t have our freedom, we are prisoners here.” -A. Afghan Mother, trapped on Samos since 2019