7 Methodology The first edition of this report was published in November 2021, covering the period from January 2021 to October 2021, while the second edition covered the period in detention from December 2021 to January 2023. This third edition successively covers the period from January 2023 to December 2023. Our findings in this report draw from three main sources: interviews conducted with asylum seekers 3 detained in the PRDC, first-hand observations from the staff of Equal Rights based on their visits to the PRDC, and an analysis of clients’ detention orders and reasoning. Regarding the interviews, Equal Rights carried out 13 structured interviews with detained asylum seekers from February to November 2023. Equal Rights staff interviewed all participants using the same interview template, and the interviews were carried out in the participant’s preferred language either by an interviewer fluent in the language or with the assistance of an interpreter. The interviews covered the following topics: the PRDC’s carceral environment and ill treatment by police, inadequate provision of food, lack of recreational activities, overcrowding, inadequate healthcare, and poor hygiene facilities and sanitation materials. As part of our trauma-informed practice, some interviews were adjusted based on the participant’s perceived or stated ability to engage with the interview or question at hand, and participants were able to opt out of questions they did not wish to answer. All participants gave their informed consent prior to being interviewed, meaning Equal Rights informed them that they were able to withdraw their consent at any time before the report’s publication, that declining an interview would in no way impact their current or future legal representation, and that no personal details would be included that would allow the participants to be identified. As such, all names have been changed to pseudonyms. Furthermore, none of the participants received payment in exchange for participating in these interviews. Our interview participant pool consisted of individuals from seven countries: Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Ghana, Somalia, Morocco, and Mali. In line with the demographics arriving on Kos, five of the participants were from Palestine. Additionally, 12 of the participants interviewed were male, while one was female, reflecting the fact that only three women were detained in the PRDC during the reporting period. In addition to these structured interviews, Equal Rights staff kept first-hand observations during their visits to the PRDC from February to December 2023, both by taking structured field notes and recording informal observations after meetings with clients in the PRDC. These field notes and records also inform our analysis. Our last source consists of an analysis of the detention orders issued for 20 clients from August 2022 to 3 Although several of the subjects we interviewed for this report had already received final rejections to their asylum applications, and therefore no longer considered asylum seekers under the relevant domestic and EU law, we are using the term asylum seeker broadly in this report to include both people in the asylum procedure as well as rejected applicants. ‘Still detained and forgotten’ – Update on Detention Policies, Practices, and Conditions on Kos 2023/24