Detention Infrastructure Greece’s immigration detention infrastructure regularly fluctuates as deficient facilities are closed, new centres established, and older ones refurbished and reopened. There have also been frequent announcements about pending reforms aimed at improving or increasing the detention estate. In May 2011, the government announced a plan to establish fourteen “First Reception Centres” and detention centres; in April 2012 it said it would create 30 new detention centres within two years (Greek government 2011; Kathimerini 2012d). Reforms implemented since 2012 have led to the adoption of three new types of dedicated detention centres, in addition to a number of older facilities that remain in use. The three new types include: pre-removal detention centres, which are operated by the police; screening centres, which are also operated by police but which employ a mobile unit of the First Reception Service that register non-citizens and make referrals; and First Reception Centres (KEPY), which are run by the First Reception Service and used for detention up to 25 days (Denekos 2013; Darmanin 2013; Theodoropoulou 2013). The Global Detention Project classifies all of these types of facilities as “secure” detention centres because people confined in them are physically prevented from leaving. As of October 2013, there were two First Reception Centres (in Orestiada and Moria); two screening centres (in Samos and Chios); and six pre-removal detention centres, of which five were established during April-October 2012 while one—in Fylakio—had previously been in operation since 2007 before being re-branded as a “pre-removal” facility. The immigration detention capacity in the six pre-removal detention centres is reportedly approximately 5,000, including 2,034 in Fylakio, 1,665 Amygdaleza, 1,022 in Corinth, 440 in Xanthi, 427 in Komotini, 320 in Paranesti Dramas. The country intends to increase the detention capacity of its pre-removal facilities to 10,000 with the help of EU co-financing (AI 2013b), including opening a new pre-removal facility in Moria with a capacity of 500 (Theodoropoulou 2013). In addition to these new facilities, Greece continues to use a number of older dedicated detention facilities, including in Athens and Thessaloniki, as well as numerous border guard and police stations. While the Ministry of Public Order and Citizen Protection has overall responsibility for immigration issues, the establishment of detention facilities—including specialised centres for administrative detention, ad hoc sites, and prisons—is intended to be decided by a host government ministries, including the Ministry of Public Administration and Decentralization, the Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity, the Ministry of Public Order, and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (Law 3386, Article 81; European Parliament 2007, p.92). Additionally, although police are legally responsible for security arrangements in detention facilities (Law 3386, Article 81), the European Committee on the Prevention of Torture (CPT) noted during a 2008 visit to Greece that there was a lack of coordination between the various agencies involved in immigration detention (CPT 2009). 11