all day, despite provisions for an outdoor area. Human Rights Watch (2008) met an Iraqi Kurd, who had been detained there for three months and had only been outside for 12 hours in total. New arrivals were not provided with clean sheets and blankets and much of the bedding was dirty. Again, here access to toilets at night was problematic, leaving detainees with no choice but to urinate in bottles or defecate in plastic bags. Reports from that period indicate dirty cells infested with cockroaches and a lack of personal care products and clean blankets, night-time access to the toilet, opportunities for physical exercise, and access to an outdoor courtyard in most police facilities even when the facilities had one (Amnesty International, 2010a; CPT, 2008; Human Rights Watch, 2008). Even before the centre was inaugurated, the CPT had expressed its concerns about its resemblance to a large police station with a carceral environment. Petrou Ralli, the independent authority claimed, was a missed opportunity to conform to EU standards (CPT, 2006). When questioned, restrictions on the movement of detained migrants had been attributed to low staff numbers. This is not far from the truth. For example, at one point in 2009 Filakio and Pagani centres had only six officers on duty for 201 and 548 detainees respectively (CPT, 2010). However, this is not the sole reason. Staff assigned to detention centres at the borders were not especially trained, nor did they want to assume this role. What is more, in the event of an escape or serious incident, they would be faced with severe disciplinary punishments or unemployment. As opposed to police officers, who could be suspended or dismissed from service, border guards were fired. Therefore, the direction of increased control and enforcing a warehousing policy is not unanticipated; in fact, it may have been forthcoming. Whitewashing violence The above sheds light on one of the main features of the detention system; the scale of the problem of ill-treatment of persons deprived of their liberty by law enforcement officials. Ill-treatment was allegedly often allowed to settle order during fights between different nationalities and was defiantly underestimated to a few harmless slaps. As the Head of the Coast Guard Police at Piraeus port admitted to a CPT delegation, he would not tolerate severe ill-treatment but consented to slaps (CPT, 2002, p. 13). Unfortunately, there are overwhelming indications that violence by the police did not stop there but instead was routine, systematic and cloaked in a climate of impunity. Over the number of years that 84