Lesvos Closed Control Access Centre
Detention centre- Status
- Operational
- Summary
The structure started operating as a Temporary Accommodation Structure for Asylum Seekers after the destruction of the Moria Reception and Identification Centre in September 2020. In November 2022, it was renamed as "Closed Controlled Access Centre" (CCAC).
It is located in the Mavrovouni area, about 5 km from the centre of Mytilene and beside the sea.
- Country
- Coordinates
Latitude: 39.208697419848754
Longitude: 26.353454589843754
- Coordinates
- address
- Kara Tepe (Pedio volis), Mavrovouni, 81100 Lesvos, Greece
- Location area
- Rural
- Phone number to contact
- +30 213 138 3200
- Controlled by
- Ministry of Migration & Asylum of Greece
- Type of Facility
- Closed Control Access Centre (CCAC)
- Official capacity
- 3873
- Number of detainees at the end of calendar year
- 1168
- Gender
- Mixed
- Age
- Mixed
- Population demographics
- TCN
- Analysis on Demographics
At the end of 2025, the population of Lesvos CCAC was 1,168 people, 608 of whom were identified as vulnerable. In June 2025, 63% of the population was male and 37% female, while minors made up 29% of the population. At the end of 2025, the population of Lesvos CCAC was 1,168 people, 608 of whom were identified as vulnerable. In June 2025, 63% of the population was male and 37% female, while minors made up 29% of the population. A 2026 report by Legal Centre Lesvos notes that the majority of people originate from Afghanistan, Yemen, Sudan, and Eritrea and Somalia.
- Description
The Lesvos CCAC is divided into four zones: the yellow and green zones host the new arrivals, the blue zone hosts persons in a vulnerable situation and the red zone hosts single adults and families. Accommodation consists of prefabricated containers, refugee housing units of around 16 m2, and large tents of various sizes, which almost always are not insulated, have no access to electricity and no heating. Sometimes it happens that the tents' entrance does not properly close, with the pouring rain, wind and cold entering the living area.
The persons living in the camp, including small children, often only wear a t-shirt, shorts or slippers, and lament being cold, especially at night.
The facility in Lesvos has a generalised lack of beds, mattresses and blankets, and the quality and quantity of the food provided are poor. There is seldom hot water available. Up to 11 persons reportedly had to share a container or refugee housing unit.
- Facility provision of medical assistance
- Yes, but insufficient
- Number of meals provided
- Not sufficient
- Use of private security
- Yes
- Analysis on Services and Rights
As of February 2026, the following support staff were present in Lesvos CCAC: 2 doctors, 6 nurses, 2 midwives, 2 psychologists and 1 social worker.
In 2024, RSA noted that '[s]erious shortages in medical and healthcare staff are evident in the Lesvos CCAC [...] medical staff only work during business hours, leaving the facility without a doctor at night or on weekends.'
- Pushbacks reported
- Mentioned
- Analysis on Pushbacks reported
In Lesvos, the CPT collected testimonies of drift-backs carried out by unidentified masked men that were sailing on a boat of the Hellenic Coast Guard in the Aegean Sea. The driver of the drifted-back vessel died later on in a Turkish hospital due to the gravity of the thwacks that the unidentified masked men inflicted on him.
- Analysis on staff-detainee relationships
There have been reports of use of abusive language against the detainees, by personnel of the private security company that operates within the detention site.