Food & Water
The quality of food reported across PRDCs was extremely low. In
general, respondents felt that there was enough food provided,
usually 2-3 meals a day, yet the terrible quality resulted in the
majority of people not eating it, preferring to buy dry food items
from the markets where possible instead. Several people we spoke
with described that food was not fresh, but often spoiled and
mouldy making it inedible. Others noted that the variety of food
was minimal, and that the same food was served daily, notably in
Corinth multiple respondents complained about only being served
potatoes every day. Only 8 people did not report food-related
issues, indicating that more than 80% of respondents across PRDCs
have experienced such difficulties. This is illustrated in photos
below.
In the case of Muršić v. Croatia the Court quoted one of the
Recommendations of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of
Europe, the appendix to which recalls that special attention should
be paid to the provision of sufficient and suitably prepared and
presented food.[222] In addition, the Court ruling refers to the
Mandela rules, which defines that food of nutritional value
adequate for health and strength, of wholesome quality, should be
served.[223] Finally, the Court ruled that for detentions of a longer
duration, the authorities must guarantee a balanced planning of
menus, if necessary by setting up an internal structure for the
catering of detainees. This is not consistent with the reports from
people in detention centres in Greece.[224]
Despite the majority of respondents stating that they had free
access to tap water, which on the whole was clean, one individual
reported that unless you paid for bottled water, there was only
access to dirty water from the bathroom. This resulted in stomach
problems and skin infections.
Source:
Corinth PRDC food, MIT respondent
The food is, like, they gave us
food three times a day. The only
thing that we can find inside the
food is potatoes, like, I mean
really, we ate only potatoes for
many months, only potatoes.
Most of the food is of them. It
made us feel dizzy sometimes
because we didn't eat anything
else except the potatoes or some
beans. We felt like we were
weak.
Sardar, Corinth
The food was really… some of it
expired, sometimes really hard,
the quality was really shit. And
yeah, one time people did a
hunger strike just because of
food you know.
Ali, Paranestii
And then the food is also not
good at all, sometimes the food
is spoiled food, you cannot eat
the food. You have to throw the
food away. When you complain
they don’t care about you.
Emmanuel, Corinth
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