In January 2023, 436 third country nationals were placed in detention centres.[1] The duration of the detention period varied. Depending on the place of deprivation of liberty, it ranged from average 86 days[2] to over 5 months.[3]
Until August 2021, there were 6 detention centres in Poland, where people were generally detained according to demographics: Lesznowola, Białystok, Przemyśl, and Krosno Odrzańskie were for men. Women, married couples, and families with children were placed in Kętrzyn and Przemyśl, while Biała Podlaska was closed for renovation. Unaccompanied children were placed in the detention centre in Kętrzyn. Asylum seekers and migrants in a deportation procedure are held in the same detention centres.
Due to the situation at the Polish-Belarusian border, the number of detention centres increased from 6 to 9 and the number of places in detention centres increased from 628 to 2,308 at the end of 2021. In August 2021, new detention centres were opened in Czerwony Bór, Biała Podlaska[4] and in Wędrzyn as a result of a cooperation between Border Guards, the Head of the Office for Foreigners and the Ministry of National Defence (in case of Wędrzyn). Two of the new detention centres had previously served as reception centres. Based on the agreement with the Head of the Office for Foreigners in July 2021, the Border Guards adapted the building of the reception centre for foreigners in Biała Podlaska (2 August) and in Czerwony Bór (branch of the detention centre in Białystok) (12 August) for the needs of detention centres.
In June 2022 – Biała Podlaska detention centre, which was placed in the former open centre, was closed. In August 2022, the Border Guard closed the detention centre in Czerwony Bór and in Wędrzyn.[5]
As of April 2024, there are 6 detention centres and their profiles were once again changed in 2023.[6]
Since 2021 until 2023, the scope of persons hosted in the different detention centres was changed several times. In 2022, men were placed in Białystok, Lesznowola, Wędrzyn and Krosno Odrzańskie. Biała Podlaska, Czerwony Bór, Lesznowola, Białystok, and Kętrzyn were for families with children and single women. Since 8 September 2023 families and unaccompanied children are placed only in Lesznowola.
Currently, families with children and unaccompanied children are placed only in Lesznowola. The Kętrzyn detention centre is only destined to single men (since 24 March 2023; from 5 June 2023 the part of detention centre for unaccompanied children was closed).[7] The rest of the detention centres are only for single men.
As at 31 December 2022, the capacity of detention centres was of 852 places (with the option for additional 300).[8]
Furthermore, the Border Guard placed migrants directly stopped at the Polish-Belarusian border in two of its stations (in Dubicze Cerkiewne and Połowce)[9], defined as “centres for foreigners’ registration” (Centrum Rejestracyjne Cudzoziemców). These facilities are very similar to detention centres, as the individuals held in such facilities did not have access to the Internet, computers or phones. Additionally, they could not access legal assistance, as they were left without any possibility to communicate with the outside world or leave these premises at any time. Moreover, the living conditions were critical, for example, people were sleeping in one big room on the mattresses on the floor. Foreigners were accommodated there even for 3 – 4 weeks.[10]
It is not possible to estimate the length of the detention of the third country nationals who were detained in more than one centre, as detention centres have separate registration systems.
On 13 August 2021, a new amendment was introduced to the Ordinance of the Ministry of Interior and Administration of 24 April 2015 on the guarded centres and detention centres for foreigners which allows now to place detainees in a dedicated room for third-country nationals or in a residential cell the area of which is not less than 2 sqm per person:
- in the case of no vacancies in rooms for foreigners,
- for a specified period of time,
- not longer than 12 months.[11] This regulation is still in force, although the CPT recommended to restore the minimum standard of living space to 4 m² per detainee in multiple-occupancy rooms in guarded centres for foreigners.[12]
This new regulation caused detention centres to become overcrowded, in particular the Lesznowola, Przemyśl, Wędrzyn, Białystok and Kętrzyn[13] detention centres in 2021 and in 2022.[14] Since 25 April 2022, migrants placed in detention centres in Biała Podlaska, Białystok, Czerwony Bór and in Kętrzyn had at least 4 sqm per person. The detention centre in Wędrzyn returned to 4 sqm from 6 June 2022.[15] In the case of detention centres for men, the area per person was reduced to a minimum, depending on the needs.[16] In the Lesznowola detention centre, there was no less than 3 sqm per migrant, but from 21 October 2022 to 6 June 2023, there was no less than 2 sqm of surface area per migrant.[17] In 2022 and 2023 in Przemyśl, surface area per migrant was no less than 2 sqm.[18] In Biala Podlaska detention centre from 13 October 2023 to the end of November 2023 the space available for each detainee was not less than 3.5 sqm per person due to rise of the maximum capacity of a detention centre.[19] In Kętrzyn the space was no less than 3 sqm per foreigner in the period between August and 20 December 2023.[20]
Third country nationals are obliged to pay for their stay in a detention centre calculated on the basis of an algorithm, set in the Act on Foreigners.
It is worth noting that asylum seekers from Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan who crossed the Polish-Belarusian border against the Polish regulations are still placed in detention even though Poland suspended deportations to these countries and high recognition rate in 2023.[21] These nationalities are granted international protection or released by the Head of the Office for Foreigners from detention centre, despite the fact that in many cases, courts had prolonged their stay.[22]
According to NGOs, Border Guards at the border continue to ignore migrants’ requests for international protection. In practice, it meant that the return procedures were immediately initiated and the migrants were placed in detention centres based on the Act on foreigners instead of the Act on granting international protection in Poland. This practice also influenced the period of detention: instead of 6 months, they were detained for longer periods and their detention was prelong for maximum period of 90 days.[23] Asylum applications were mostly registered in detention centres and with a delay as the Border Guards ignore the asylum claims.[24]
In 2022, a CPT delegation was informed by a number of foreign nationals (including children of all ages) that they were routinely strip searched in Biała Podlaska and Białystok centres; furthermore, these searches were, allegedly, carried out without respecting the requirement for a two-stage approach, set by law, in order to ensure that the detainee was never fully naked.[25]
Migrants and asylum seekers claim that there are no interpreters present on regular basis in detention centres (i.e. Arabic and Kurdish), which influences on their access to information being detained.[26] What is more in some detention centres, the emplyees of a Border Guard support the translation between the foreigner and medical staff.[27] In some cases other foreigners participate as an interpreter with a consent of the examined person [28] The CPT recommends that greater efforts be made in the guarded centres visited (and, if relevant, in all other detention facilities for foreigners) to improve staff’s training in languages commonly spoken by detained foreign nationals and in inter-cultural communication. Furthermore, the staff should be instructed to avoid using impersonal modes of communication and address foreign nationals by their names.[29]
The CPT also recommended to review the complaints’ procedures at the guarded centres to make sure that detained foreigners are effectively enabled to send complaints in a confidential manner and are duly informed of this possibility. All written complaints should be recorded in a dedicated register. [30]
According to the Office for Foreigners, the asylum cases of migrants placed in detention are prioritised but it does not mean that they are examined more quickly.[31] The special detention department was established in Office for Foreigners to prioritise the cases of detained asylum seekers.[32] In practice, it means that asylum seekers have only 7 days to present additional evidence in their case, before an asylum decision is made, which can be very difficult to provide as the asylum seekers have a limited access to the internet and no access to social apps as Messenger or WhatsApp.
The interview is conducted through videoconference with the – online – attendance of a psychologist and interpreter. According to NGOs, psychologists and interpreters are available on the premises of the Head of the Office for Foreigners[33] or in a different place and not in the centre where the individual is detained.
In addition, NGOs claim that in the case of detained asylum seekers, the Refugee Board does not conduct evidentiary proceedings, meaning that they do not assess the grounds for applying for international protection.[34]
In Krosno Odrzańskie in 2023, direct coercive measures were used against detained migrants: physical force – 7 times, handcuffs -20 times and an isolation room – 9 times, once: manual gas thrower.[35] In Przemyśl, these measures (plus gas and helmet) were used 42 times and 16 times in Kętrzyn.[36] In Białystok physical force – 8 times, handcuffs – 3 times and an isolation room – 8 times were used.[37] In Biała Podlaska – 3 times -handcuffs, physical force and once isolation room.[38]
In April 2023, the death of a Syrian man in the detention centre of Przemyśl was reported. An investigation regarding the actions of the border guard and of medical services that came to the centre to provide assistance in ongoing.[39]
The Ombudsman’s Office investigated the use of a direct coercive measure in the detention centre of Przemyśl – an electric stun gun against one of the centre’s occupants. An investigation was launched in this case on the grounds of the border guard officer involved exceeding his authority,[40] but the case was dismissed through a court decision which is now final.[41] The person who was attacked by this officer was found guilty of making criminal threats to the Border Guard Officer in the canteen in 2022. The ruling has not been appealed and has become final. The Polish Ombudsman filled a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court in that case.[42] In September 2023, detainees organised some protests in Przemyśl.
In 2023, the National Prevention Mechanism (NPM) noticed improper documentation of the use of direct coercive measures in detention centre of Przemysl, both in terms of the application of the direct coercive measure itself, as well as the reasons, circumstances and effects of its use. NMP also recommended to remind officers of the obligation to provide first medical aid, medical consultation to each person subject to a isolation, immediately after being placed in the isolation room, and then at least once during each subsequent 24-hour period and medical consultation to a person who was exposed to pepper gas, regardless of the officer’s assessment of the health condition of that person.[43]
There were several cases of a detention of unaccompanied children who were consider as an adult, following the age assessment. In two cases, the courts released them, rising doubts about the procedure followed. The court underlined that the medical examination conducted, as a result of which child was recognised as an adult, did not allow for a clear determination of the age as it did not contain information on the margin of permissible error.[44]
[1] Letter of Border Guards Headquaters, 25 January 2023.
[2] Letter of Border Guards in Lesznowola, 9 February 2024.
[3] Poland: Cruelty Not Compassion, At Europe’s Other Borders, April 2022, available in English here: https://bit.ly/3mOh2FV, Information from different branches of Border Guards, information form HFHR, March 2023, Letter of Border Guard in Przemyśl, 5 March 2024.
[4] To prevent confusion, Biała Podlaska detention centre closed for renovation in 2020. In August, Border Guard took the charge of the Biała Podlaska reception centre and they reorganised it and opened there a detention centre.
[5] BG Headquarters, 25 January 2023.
[6] Information provided by HFHR March 2023.
[7] Letter of Border Guards in Ketrzyn, 24 February 2024.
[8] Polish Government response to the CPT report on its visit to Poland from 21 March to 1 April 2022, available at: https://rm.coe.int/1680ae9553.
[9] KMPT ad hoc visit to the Border Guard post in Narewka, available in Polish at https://bit.ly/3ELyE9Y.
[10] Information provided by SIP, April 2022, Sip w działaniu, Sip report for 2021, available in Polish: https://bit.ly/3oAq2ia.
[11] Previously, the minimum was 4 sqm.
[12] Report to the Polish Government on the visit to Poland carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 21 March to 1 April 2022, 22 February 2024, available in English at: https://rm.coe.int/1680ae9529.
[13] BG in Kętrzyn 9 March 2023: in the period between January and April there no less than 2 sqr meters of surface area per migrant was provided.
[14] Information provided by Border Guards Headquarters to SIP, February 2022 and 17 January 2023, Letter of Border Guard in Kętrzyn 8 February 2024, in Lesznowola , 9 February 2024., in Biała Podlaska 13 February 2024, in Przemyśl, 5 March 2024 ; Preparation of state bodies in case of a mass influx of foreigners to Poland, Supreme Audit Office, NIK, Przygotowanie organów państwa na wypadek masowego napływu cudzoziemców do Polski, available in Polish: https://bit.ly/3mWDvQY, Situation of foreigners in the centres guarded in times of crisis on the border of Poland and Belarus, available in Polish here: https://bit.ly/3URYZek.
[15] Annual Report on the Situation of Asylum in the European Union, 2022 available in English at: https://bit.ly/3UIBuWE, 179.
[16] Information provided by Border Guard Headquarters, 17 January 2023, Kętrzyn 9 March 2023.
[17] BG in Lesznowola, 7 March 2023 and 9 February 2024.
[18] BG in Przemyśl, 10 March 2023, Letter of Border Guards in Przemyśl, 5 March 2024- from 1 January 2022 to 26 July 2022 and from 21 October 2023 up to 6 June 2023 and from 2 October till the end of 2023; Letter of Border Guards in Przemyśl, 5 March 2024.
[19] Letter of Border Guards in Biała Podlaska, 13 February 2024.
[20] Letter of Border Guards in Kętrzyn, 8 February 2024.
[21] Information provided by Nomada Association and Halina Niec Legal Aid Centre, March 2023. Border Guards Headquartes information, access to public information to Halina Niec Legal Aid Centre 27.07.2023, KG-OI-VIII.0180.102.2023.KK.
[22] Commissioner for Human Rights, 31 August 2022, available in Polish here: https://bit.ly/3NHxena.
[23] HFHR, 12 March 2024, Witold Klaus, Monika Szulecka, Dominik Wzorek, Detencja i jej alternatywy. Analiza orzecznictwa sądowego w sprawie umieszczania cudzoziemców w ośrodkach strzeżonych, Wydawnictwo Instytutu Wymiaru Sprawiedliwości, 2024, 105.
[24] Witold Klaus, Monika Szulecka, Dominik Wzorek, Detencja i jej alternatywy. Analiza orzecznictwa sądowego w sprawie umieszczania cudzoziemców w ośrodkach strzeżonych, Wydawnictwo Instytutu Wymiaru Sprawiedliwości, 2024, 105-107, 127. Inaction of the Border Guard Commander in accepting an application for international protection, Bezczynność Komendanta SG w przyjmowaniu wniosku o ochronę międzynarodową, Stowarzyszenie Interwencji Prawnej, 27 April 2023, available in Polish: https://bit.ly/4b12GWn.
[25] Report to the Polish Government on the visit to Poland carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 21 March to 1 April 2022, 22 February 2024, available in English at: https://rm.coe.int/1680ae9529.
[26] Commissioner for Human Rights, BIURO RZECZNIKA PRAW OBYWATELSKICH Krajowy Mechanizm Prewencji KMP.572.7.2023.KK Raport Krajowego Mechanizmu Prewencji Tortur z wizytacji Strzeżonego Ośrodka dla Cudzoziemców w Białej Podlaskiej available in Polish at: https://bit.ly/44tKu5y.
[27] Report to the Polish Government on the visit to Poland carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 21 March to 1 April 2022, 22 February 2024, available in English at: https://rm.coe.int/1680ae9529.
[28] Bieszczadzki Border Guard Unit, 05 March 2024, Commissioner for Human Rights BIURO RZECZNIKA PRAW OBYWATELSKICH Krajowy Mechanizm Prewencji KMP.572.7.2023.KK Raport Krajowego Mechanizmu Prewencji Tortur z wizytacji Strzeżonego Ośrodka dla Cudzoziemców w Białej Podlaskiej available in Polish at: https://bit.ly/44tKu5y.
[29] The CPT recommends that greater efforts be made in the guarded centres visited (and, if relevant, in all other detention facilities for foreigners) to improve staff’s training in languages commonly spoken by detained foreign nationals and in inter-cultural communication. Furthermore, the staff should be instructed to cease impersonal modes of communication and address foreign nationals by their names.
[30] Report to the Polish Government on the visit to Poland carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 21 March to 1 April 2022, 22 February 2024, available in English at: https://rm.coe.int/1680ae9529.
[31] Information provided by the Office for Foreigners, 3 February 2023.
[32] Information provided by the Head of the Office for Foreigners, 2024.
[33] Information provided by Ocalenie Foundation, 12 March 2024.
[34] Information provided by Rule of Law Institute, 20 January 2023.
[35] Information provided by Krosno Odrzańskie, 23 February 2024.
[36] Information provided by Border Guards in Kętrzyn 2024.
[37] Letter of Border Guard in Białystok, 12 February 2024.
[38] Letter of Border Guards in Biała Podlaska, 13 February 2024.
[39] Polish Press Agency, PAP, 26 January 2024, Investigation into the death of 28-year-old Syrian in a guarded centre for foreigners. Prosecution seeks medical experts, available in Polish: https://bit.ly/4a9Ozgj.
[40] “Unjustified use of a stun gun by a Border Guard officer against a foreigner. Ombudsman requests investigation”, March 2023, available in Polish at: https://bit.ly/3pf5vjT.
[41] Commissioner for Human Rights, The court dismissed the RPO’s complaint against the discontinuation of the investigation into the unjustified use of a stun gun by a Border Guard officer against a foreigner. Available in Polish at: https://bit.ly/3QszDCZ.
[42] Commissioner for Human Rights, BIURO RZECZNIKA PRAW OBYWATELSKICH, “Guinean national sentenced after incident in Guarded Centre for Foreigners. The Supreme Court overturned the verdict after a cassation appeal by the RPO, 19 April 2024, available in Polish at: https://bit.ly/3y7pXYo.
[43] Commissioner for Human Rights, BIURO RZECZNIKA PRAW OBYWATELSKICH, Krajowy Mechanizm Prewencji KMP.572.6.2023.MD Raport Krajowego Mechanizmu Prewencji Tortur z wizytacji Strzeżonego Ośrodka i Aresztu dla Cudzoziemców w Przemyślu available in Polish at: https://bit.ly/3UMMId2.
[44] HFHR, 1 August 2023, Somali girl released from immigration detention – a court finds that the authorities misjudged her age, available in English at: https://bit.ly/4aZCmw1; SIP, 15 December 2023, Unaccompanied Somali minor released from guarded centre, available in English: https://bit.ly/4bpaam3.