19 single men (including one person who was a According to those interviewed for this report, UAM during quarantine), Lefkonia’s upstairs when the upstairs apartments and the audito- rooms are made to accommodate approxi- rium are both in use, they are treated as two sep- mately ten people at a time, while the down- arate quarantine areas, and bathroom facilities stairs, auditorium-like room accommodates the are assigned based on this divide. According to remainder. One employee that had access to the interviews, those quarantined in the audito- facility, has stated that there are three separate rium had to go outside to access their bath- sections in the quarantine, with a balcony in rooms, while those quarantined in the upstairs one section and a common space in another. apartments shared a single shower. Various interviewees have described the two- Only one section of the Lefkonia facility has an story facility as consisting of an upstairs with outdoor balcony. Those quarantined in the approximately eight shared rooms, and a down- other sections are forbidden from accessing stairs auditorium-like room that is reserved for outdoor facilities during their stay–they are un- recreational activities when it is not used as an able to breathe fresh air for two full weeks. overflow room to accommodate significant Moreover, when the auditorium is used as an numbers of arrivals. 42 There are two sets of bathrooms, one inside and several outside, and overflow room, they are not only denied a place to engage in recreational facilities, but they are a shared kitchen. The rooms are often mixed explicitly forbidden from leaving their rooms gender, with those interviewed stating that it except to use the toilet. was up to them to separate themselves by gender, if possible. Families are not offered separate, private accommodation in quarantine. UAM are similarly not given a separate space. Recurrent interviews on Chios confirmed that the upstairs rooms were crowded with 4-9 people in each room, with beds within 1 meter of each other. While all people interviewed stated that they Police seize the phones of asylum seekers while they are in quarantine, as lawyers on Chios first noted in July 2021. Initially, phones were seized in a systematic manner based on a criminal inquiry investigating asylum seekers supposed illegal entry into the country. According to two penal files, the phones were sent for laboratory testing in Athens. The phones were not returned, had beds to sleep on, one man quarantined in neither at the end of the quarantine nor at the Lefkonia in winter 2021 stated that he saw that end of the asylum procedure. As of October 2021, those quarantined in the auditorium did not however, authorities have returned phones to have beds and, instead, were forced to sleep on asylum seekers at Vial after their quarantine. the ground. However, the capacity of beds has increased over time. In March 2022 the number of beds in Lefkonia increased to 140 due to mattress donations from an NGO. In April 2022, RIS increased the capacity to 165. 42 Those interviewed about their experience in quarantine often described a carceral environment where they were treated like prisoners instead of vulnerable persons seeking asylum. Some interviewees stated that it was used as a recreational facility while others stated that they were housed in it. ‘Quarantine of Asylum Seeker’ – A legal classification of the quarantine practice on Chios