Respondent 15, Iraq. Detained in Amygdaleza PRDC. Then, they had this little argument and probably he insulted them. This Turkish guy and they wanted to get inside and beat him up. But then he grabbed like a piece of window, like, glass or glass piece of glass. And he wanted to hurt himself. He said if anybody gets close to me, I would just stab myself. So they told us there were three officers and they left, they said, we won’t touch you all good. Then two days after they went that straight to where he stayed and they beat him up like so bad and they broke his phone and took his money. Respondent 1, Algeria. Detained in Paranesti PRDC. Yeah, because there were hunger striking for food and another time for staying there, for no reason. The same thing happened. They just called a lot of undercover police, with batons and so on, and they start beating everybody. They had the balaclava, you know, and they were in black uniform and they had the Greek flag and they were beating one by one you know. And so many people got injured, even vulnerable people. Some people had like special needs and so many people who needed to do surgery, they just didn’t care about them, they were kept like everybody else. There wasn’t any exception even for vulnerable people. i. Corinth PRDC Further highlighting the deteriorating conditions of detention facilities in Greece, 65% of the testimonies we collected from respondents detained in Corinth referenced punitive violence. In particular, respondents described a specific pattern whereby individuals would be taken from their room by police officers to a “dark room”, beaten by multiple officers at once using batons, kicking and fists, before being returned to their rooms. The consistency of the reports and extent of violence described within them is alarming; the majority of respondents described this method as ‘torture’. According to Article 3 of the ECHR, ill-treatment may be reached when an individual is subject to excessive force that is not strictly necessary, as it “diminishes human dignity and is in principle an infringement of the rights set forth in Article 3 of the Convention.”34 However, in addition to the severity of abuse described by detainees, which reportedly led to fractures amongst other injuries, humiliation as well as a clear punitive intent practised in PRDCs in Greece is of grave concern. To qualify as torture, the “intention of the perpetrator and the powerlessness of the victim”35 and the humiliation experienced by the victim are crucial elements. Fear also plays a role in defining a breach of Article 3 of the ECHR, where “fear of physical torture may constitute mental torture”36 as it similarly diminishes human dignity. Both the fear and humiliation expressed by respondents detained in Corinth was extremely apparent, where several explained that they opted to remain silent out of severe distress. Respondent 30, Egypt. Detained in Corinth PRDC. He says because the last time they got beaten in a very-very bad way, for example he says all of us we lost our dignity in that day because they beat you and then he crush you with his leg and you lose your dignity and after that you cannot do something… like… they understand that you cannot do any kind of change inside that camp, they say whatever and they will bring you whatever food and you are just going to eat it and that’s it. Because if you do not, they are going…they can murder you or crush you because they beat you very-very bad. Not just one or two with the stick but a lot so it’s not a good idea to continue with the demonstration or strike. Respondent 9, Afghanistan. Detained in Corinth PRDC. So for example when I wanted to ask something about that we want this or this, their behaviour is so bad after that they send us in a dark room they torture us there, really bad things. In order to just be patient, be calm, don’t talk anymore and don’t ask anything. Respondent 10, Afghanistan. Detained in Corinth PRDC. Because we had to do, raise the voice, because there is no reason that we should stay for many years, 18 months, there for nothing. Because of not having any documents. We have to raise our voice and then when we like, we want to talk, they just beat us a lot, very hard, like torture. Then after that, the person couldn’t talk anymore…. I have seen one of our friends, just, he has a mental health problem and he was a little noisy. And the police took them and tortured them. And then they transfer us to somewhere else I don’t know exactly where. ii. Amygdaleza PRDC In Amygdaleza, where detainees are accommodated in caravan containers, respondents similarly reported that individuals subjected to physical abuse by authorities were taken away from their usual rooms, beaten in “dark rooms”, and returned, sometimes a few days later. 50% of the testimonies we collected referenced violent punishment tactics, and one respondent specified that the severity of punishment was dependent on the behaviour of the detainee, elaborating that in certain cases, individuals could be held in solitary confinement afterwards for up to three months. This repression and hidden violence makes it 10