because it is very costly and causes losses not only to the offender but to society as a whole. As a rule, milder punishments should therefore be preferred. Greece's indiscriminate detention policy falls behind in terms of cost-effectiveness on several fronts. First, it exceeds Greece's current budget. In particular, the average cost of detaining an irregular migrant in Greece is 16 euros/per day,91 of which 5,87 euros are invested in daily food catering. Compared to other EU Member States, the overall sum is very low92 and does not suffice to secure the basic needs of the detainees.93 In fact, NGOs often provide detainees with basic items out of their own resources. 94 Nonetheless, on the basis of the current capacity of pre-removal centres (4,985), detention costs Greece and the EU a minimum of EUR 28,713,600 per year (excluding special holding facilities, police stations and border guard units). Greece's plan is to create a total of 7,500 places of detention, 95 which would entail a minimum annual cost of EUR 43,200,000. To compare, in 2013 alone, Greece's return policy (pre-removal centres and return operations) ran under a total budget of EUR 46 million (EU funding and national resources). This means that the available funds are insufficient to carry the costs of such an expanded and expansive detention policy and practice. Second, the cost of detention weighs heavily within the Return Fund scheme. Approximately 32 % of the allocation has so far been consumed to cover costs related to detention facilities, in order to improve their conditions. Given Greece's other needs, in the end only 50% was left to operate actual returns. 96 If we add to this the planned annual running costs, EUR 43,2 million, then Greece will have to seriously cut down on its other operations incorporated in the European Return Fund to carry out its planned detention policy. 91 Calculated on the basis of the annual running costs of pre-removal centres divided by their capacity, as in Ministry of Citizen Protection, Revised National Action Plan on Asylum and Migration Management, Chapter 4, 2013. See also Joint Ministerial Decision No 2/30866/0022 by the Ministers of Finances and of Public Order, dated 12.7.2001; See also Minister of Citizen Protection, Parliamentary Reply of 03 February 2014 available at http://www.hellenicparliament.gr/UserFiles/67715b2c-ec81-4f0c-ad6a-476a34d732bd/8341922.pdf 92 For a comparative overview of the different detention regimes among EU Member States see Global Detention Project, “Europe Profiles”, available at http://www.globaldetentionproject.org/countries/europe.html 93 See Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, “Report to the Greek Government on the visit to Greece from 4 to 16 April 20130”, 16 October 2014, available at http://www.cpt.coe.int/documents/grc/2014-26-inf-eng.pdf 94 Interview with Medecins sans Frontieres, 5 May 2014 95 The original plan was to create 10,000 places of detention by the end of 2014. See Commission Staff Working Document on the Assessment of the implementation of the Greek Action Plan on Asylum and Migration management, 6 October 2014 96 Commission Staff Working Document on the Assessment of the implementation of the Greek Action Plan on Asylum and Migration Management, 2014, p. 14 Page 46