Paranesti PRDC VIOLENCE IN DETENTION In the first installment of BVMN’s work looking at violence within Greece’s borders, we examined incidents of violence inside state-run facilities in the mainland, focussing on Paranesti and Petrou Ralli Pre-Removal Detention Centres (PRDCs), and Karatea police station. Here, we will revisit the conditions in Paranesti PRDC after further shocking reports of violence have emerged from the centre. Since the passing of the International Protection Act (IPA) in 2020, the Greek state’s response to migration has shifted towards policies of containment, detention, and return. PRDCs have become a central pillar to this process; originally these were designed for those ‘awaiting the execution of a pending deportation order /return decision’, but laws passed in 2012, 2013, 2019, and 2020 gradually expanded the use of PRDCs to more categories of asylum seekers, who could also be detained ‘together with third-country nationals under removal procedures’. It is important at this stage to note that, according to the UN Human Rights Council, detention in and of itself can amount to a form of torture when it is based solely on migration status and employed for the purpose of ‘intentionally imposed or perpetuated for such purposes as deterring, intimidating or punishing irregular migrants.’ In fact, the UNHCR has published concerns that PRDCs are being used ‘for categories of individuals who should not be subject to administrative detention’, for example, individuals detained before being able to register their intention to ask for asylum due to a lack of access to the asylum system (which will be expanded upon later in this report), as well as asylum seekers who cannot feasibly be returned to their countries following a negative decision which leaves them facing prolonged sentences in facilities designed for removal. In the case of PRDCs in Greece, under Article 46 the IPA successfully increased the detention time limit up to 18 months, with the possibility of a further 18 month extension in lieu of removal. In practice, this means individuals can be held for a total of three years in these closed detention facilities simply for the ‘crime’ of asking for asylum. The shift towards detention as a first resort for asylum seekers at the EU’s external borders is in clear contravention of the statements of the UN Human Rights Council, and may even be considered as in violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights which prohibits “torture or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment”. Unfortunately, interviews conducted by field reporters for the BVMN in Greece have revealed that malpractice in PRDCs extends beyond the improper usage of such facilities. We have gathered testimonies that speak to physical violence, humiliation, verbal abuse, and denial of access to basic facilities and medical care. Indeed, the UN Convention against Torture (CAT) has imposed a series of obligations on states regarding prison conditions; these refer to the cleanliness, size, and capacity of cells as well as access to daylight, heating, ventilation, electricity, water, and material items like bedding and the positive right to legal and medical care or assistance. Reports from the ground not only show that such standards are not being met but speak to brutal violence extending far beyond conditional insufficiencies. 1