19 III. Updates Regarding Conditions in the Kos Pre-Removal Detention Centre 1. Use of Handcuffs This section provides an update regarding the reasons: when transferring individuals from living conditions for asylum seekers in the Kos the CCAC to the PRDC and to and from external PRDC while also highlighting the trends, appointments. similarities, and differences in the living Reflecting the rise in arbitrary detention cases, conditions since the last two editions of this an increased number of participants this year report were published. The findings in this were handcuffed on their way to and from the section are based on the testimonies of 13 police station in the Kos city centre. In total, six participants in-depth of the participants interviewed for this report interviews carried out from February 2023 to mentioned that they had been handcuffed November 2023. while on Kos, with four of these participants gathered through The use of handcuffs on individuals in detention remained inconsistent throughout the reporting period, a trend that continued from the last two editions of this report.41 Handcuffs continue to be used for two primary being handcuffed by the city police in relation A. Carceral Environment and Ill Treatment by Police to their criminal charges. Two participants explained that they had handcuffs placed on In the last two reports, participants have them when they were transferred from the consistently shared their impression of the CCAC to the PRDC, while two other PRDC as a carceral environment, and this participants impression handcuffed at some point during their transfer participants remained true interviewed among for this the third explained that they were to Kos from Rhodes, another Aegean Island. edition.40 For continuity, participants were When one of the report’s participants Ali was presented with questions about the three handcuffed themes discussed in the previous two editions: mentioned that he was made to “walk in front of use of handcuffs, maltreatment by police, and the tourists.” Idris also commented on the use of broken phone cameras. Their testimonies handcuffs in the public sphere, explaining he confirmed asylum detention was handcuffed upon his arrival to Kos “inside continue to face an inconsistent use of the boat in front of the world to see”. Ali and Idris’ handcuffs, police maltreatment in the form of experiences being handcuffed in front of others mostly verbal but some physical aggression, demonstrate their perception that handcuffs and a requirement to break their phone are a degrading and humiliating tool used to cameras — all of which contributed to their publicly humiliate asylum seekers. seekers in impressions of the PRDC being a carceral environment. 40 41 in Rhodes, he . Detained and Forgotten, supra note 1, at 45-47; Still Detained and Forgotten, supra note 2, at 21-23. Detained and Forgotten, supra note 1, at 45; Still Detained and Forgotten, supra note 2, at 21. ‘Still detained and forgotten’ – Update on Detention Policies, Practices, and Conditions on Kos 2023/24 specifically