20 This included police guarding the facility, and their medical issues. It also can contribute to prisoner-like treatment while in quarantine. feelings of imprisonment. This treatment can be humiliating and trauma- Those who were transported outside of the tizing, especially given the obvious vulnerabili- quarantine were treated as prisoners who might ties of those seeking international protection. escape at any moment. One volunteer from a Two people interviewed even described being refugee aid NGO on Chios described one medi- strip searched before entering quarantine. cal aid transfer this way: Ali who was also strip searched in Chios before “I was tasked with transporting an asylum seeker being placed into quarantine said, “I was not able from quarantine to the hospital. The transportation to focus on anything because of the shock at the time.” was chaotic. I had to be accompanied by the police Once in quarantine, those quarantined are the entire time. One car with two policemen fol- treated like detainees. Police guard the outside lowed me as I drove the man to the hospital. They doors, so no one is allowed in or out causing one also waited with me at the hospital for three hours. I person to believe that he was at a police station: told them that my only job was transportation and “[The person who picked me up on the road] took me that it was not my job to stay the entire time. The to the police place and the quarantine was upstairs. policemen told me that they were not allowed to I don’t know if that was a police station,” said Omer leave my side and that I was not allowed to leave the when he described the quarantine facility on asylum seeker or go outside to the supermarket. This Chios. was never required when I transported people from “It was like a prison,” said Omer. “There were no activities at all. It was a room, and we were just staying in that room… It was difficult to bear the situa- the refugee camp. I was very confused. After three hours we were finally allowed to leave, and they followed me back to the quarantine.” tion. We were just sitting there. We were really bored. The only thing we would do is go to the bathroom. It was difficult… When you go downstairs there’s a bathroom and there is a door next to it. The door is locked. But even if you could open the door, there is another door which is the main gate of the building. Outside that gate is the police.” One employee that had access to the facility also noted that the police lock them in the facility once they enter and accompany the medical providers at all times. The police presence during these medical interactions creates privacy concerns where those quarantined may not feel comfortable speaking freely with medics about ‘Quarantine of Asylum Seeker’ – A legal classification of the quarantine practice on Chios