Corinth Pre-Removal Detention Centre – 3D Model

Organisation in Charge

Hellenic Police

Facility Status

Operational

Overview

Corinth Pre‑Removal Detention Centre is located on a former military base in the Peloponnese, southern Greece. It was originally opened in August 2012 to detain undocumented migrants as part of the controversial police operation 'Xenios Zeus'. Managed by the Hellenic Police, the centre has been repeatedly criticised for its poor conditions, overcrowding, and extended detention periods.

This 3D model, developed as part of the Detention Landscapes project, reconstructs the spatial structures of the Corinth detention centre. While architectural structures convey important aspects of state violence, the 3D model should be considered alongside documented testimonies from people who have first-hand experience of being detained in Corinth, for a fuller understanding of the lived realities of immigration detention.

Exploring the 3D Model

Use your mouse or touchscreen to rotate, zoom, and explore the different sections of the facility. The model includes modular container structures, fences and communal areas. Some areas are marked with interactive hotspots providing testimonies of the lived reality of detention from former detainees. Different colours indicate differing functions of buildings (for accommodation, administrative activities etc).

Due to restrictions on access to the facility and limited photographic documentation due to confiscation of detainees' mobile phone devices, several elements in the model are based on satellite imagery, online research, interviews with detainees, official reports, and informed architectural inference. This model is therefore not an exact or architecturally accurate representation, but an interpretive reconstruction intended to visualise the spatial and experiential dimensions of detention.

Architecture and Layout

Corinth pre-removal centre is composed of eight two-storey buildings, surrounded by high fences and guard towers. Each building has two wings with four large dormitories, each with a capacity for 12 people. At the end of 2023 it had an official capacity of 1,344, making it the country's largest pre-removal centre. The layout mimics a military installation, with a highly controlled, carceral environment. Key features include enclosed yard spaces surrounded by razor wire fencing, shared sanitation facilities often in disrepair, and minimal indoor communal areas.

Lived Experiences and Testimonies

Detainees at Corinth have consistently reported inhumane and degrading treatment, including physical violence, inadequate food, and medical neglect. Many have spent months or even over a year in confinement with no clear communication about the status of their detention.

Cells are used to accommodate detainees and conditions inside are unhygienic, leading to the spread of skin diseases and exacerbated by the limited provision of personal hygiene items to detainees. Testimonies indicate that accommodation cells in Corinth are overcrowded and unhygienic. Detainees face restrictions on access to outdoor spaces and no other activities are provided, leading to a situation of dire mental health. Detainees also face limited access to legal aid and NGOs, and poor food exacerbating existing medical problems for some detainees.

"If people are sick and they ask for medicine, or any medical care then they don't listen to the people."

— 35 year-old man from Pakistan, testimony taken in 2024

As a result of these conditions and prolonged periods of being imprisoned in legal limbo, tensions among detainees are frequent, with fights breaking out. The treatment of detainees by staff is poor, oppressive and in some cases violent.

Resistance and Visibility

Protests, suicide and self-harm are not uncommon in Corinth. On 18 November 2012, there was a large protest by almost 800 people against the duration and conditions of detention. The uprising was brutally repressed by Greek riot police, resulting in injuries, arrests and persecution of detainees, although most were later acquitted in court. Similar incidents have frequently been reported since. In late 2023, detainees in Corinth went on hunger strike after the death of a 24 year-old Pakistani man in the facility due to medical neglect.