- 12 The delegation was informed that women were regularly placed in the detention facility together with men with no special arrangements being made for them; the delegation heard that one week prior to its visit three women had spent at least one night huddled together in a corner of the detention area. 18. The situation in Tychero Police and Border Guard Station was similarly bad. The concrete warehouse structure adjoining the station contained two closed rooms and a third room which was exposed to the elements but which, despite freezing temperatures and snow, was still used to hold people overnight (for example, seven women from the Dominican Republic had slept on sheets of cardboard there the day before the delegation’s visit). At the time of the visit, 139 persons were being held in the facility, nearly 100 of whom were crammed into a room measuring some 35m² (many persons slept on a two-metre high raised platform area at the back of the room or on the roof of the sanitary annexe)11. The annexe containing the three toilets and single shower possessed no lights and was in a filthy state. Further, three juveniles (two of whom were unaccompanied minors) continued to be held with adults despite a prosecutorial order of November 2010 stating that they should be transferred to the Arsis juvenile facility in either Makrynitsa or Thessaloniki. 19. As for Feres Police and Border Guard Station, at the time of the visit more than 70 men were crammed into a cell of some 45m² while 37 women contorted themselves in order to be able to lie down in the other official cell12 measuring some 30m². A further 30 women and two men were accommodated in a room of some 40m²; access to natural light was minimal and artificial lighting poor (one artificial strobe light had been installed the morning of the delegation’s visit). All detained persons had limited access to one of two small yards during the day. The female sanitary facilities had been recently refurbished and were in a decent state of repair; however, the male sanitary facilities were dilapidated and filthy and required urgent refurbishment (only one of the two toilets functioned). The manner in which the food was distributed was totally inappropriate; for example, at 11 a.m., a large cardboard box containing breakfast (a bread roll and a small carton of juice) was placed on the floor of the women’s sanitary facilities from which the female detainees had to help themselves. None of the cells possessed call bells. Also, the delegation noted that when staff wanted to call a detained person they would shout down through the bars above the walking area rather than approaching the detainee directly. 20. In all three of these stations, many detained persons complained about the cold, the insufficient quantity and quality of the food, the fact that they had been wearing the same clothes for a month or more (despite having a change of clothes among their possessions which had been taken from them upon arrival), and the lack of heating and of hot water. Further, there was a common complaint regarding the lack of information about the future and how long they would be detained. 11 12 The overcrowding was so extreme that when the delegation opened the door to enter the room, the sheer mass of numbers pushed one person out of the door. Further, the platform area was unsafe in that there were no stairs to access it, nor any barriers to prevent persons from falling down. One irregular migrant had recently broken his leg after falling down from a platform. The cell contained a concrete plinth along two and a half of its sides and a one metre high concrete plinth in the middle. Women were also crammed into the small entrance area, separated from the rest of the cell by floor to ceiling bars.