As of 1 July 2024, 498 third country nationals were currently placed in detention centres.[1] The duration of the detention period varied. Depending on the place of deprivation of liberty, it ranged from on average 110 days[2] to over 163 days.[3]
As of April 2025, there are 5 detention centres. Men were placed in Białystok, (Krosno Odrzańskie is closed for renovation since September 2024), Biała Podlaska, Przemyśl and Kętrzyn. Lesznowola was for unaccompanied minors, families with children and single women.
Furthermore, the Border Guard placed migrants directly stopped at the Polish-Belarusian border in two of its stations (in Dubicze Cerkiewne and Połowce),[4] defined as “centres for foreigners’ registration” (Centrum Rejestracyjne Cudzoziemców). These facilities are very similar to detention centres, as the individuals held in such facilities do not have access to the Internet, computers or phones. Additionally, they cannot access legal assistance, as they are 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.
It is not possible to estimate the length of detention for 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.[5] 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.[6]
There were cases of overcrowding in 2024 in Kętrzyn, Przemyśl and in Biała Podlaska. [7]
Third country nationals are obliged to pay for their stay in a detention centre with the fee calculated on the basis of an algorithm, set in the Act on Foreigners.
It is worth noting that asylum seekers from Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Eritrea , Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan were still placed in detention in 2024 even though Poland suspended deportations to these countries and presented a high recognition rate for these nationalities in 2024.[8] 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.[9]
According to NGOs, Border Guards at the border continue to ignore migrants’ requests for international protection. It also happens that asylum applications are not registered immediately in detention centres.[10]
Still in 2024, foreigners were routinely strip searched in border guards premises, and this was 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.[11]
Migrants and asylum seekers claim that there are no interpreters present on regular basis in detention centres (i.e. Arabic and Kurdish), which impacts their access to information while being detained.[12] Moreover, in some detention centres, employees of the Border Guard help in the translation between the foreigner and medical staff.[13] In some cases other foreigners participate as interpreter with the consent of the examined person.[14] The CPT recommended 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 (numbers) and address foreign nationals by their names.[15]
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. [16]
According to the Office for Foreigners, the asylum cases of migrants: (-) placed in detention, (-) single women from Somalia, (-) vulnerable, (-) Ukrainians and Belarusians; are prioritised but it does not mean that they are examined more quickly.[17] The special detention department was established in Office for Foreigners to prioritise the cases of detained asylum applicants; in general, the average duration of asylum proceedings in first instance was 5.61 months.[18]
In practice, it means that asylum applicants 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 applicants 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 attendance of a psychologist and interpreter either in person at the detention centre with the applicant or also online. According to NGOs, as of 2024 psychologists and interpreters were available on the premises of the Head of the Office for Foreigners[19] 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 applicants, the Refugee Board does not conduct evidentiary proceedings, meaning that they do not assess the grounds for applying for international protection.[20]
In Krosno Odrzańskie in 2024, direct coercive measures were used against detained migrants 55 times.[21] In Przemyśl, these measures were used 45 times,[22] 18 times in Kętrzyn[23] and 147 times in Lesznowola.[24] In Białystok physical force was used 30 times, handcuffs 6 times, an isolation room 17 times and other measures 8 times.[25] In Biała Podlaska handcuffs and physical force were used 3 times and the isolation room once.[26]
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 was ongoing as of January 2024.[27]
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,[28] but the case was dismissed through a court decision which is now final.[29] 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 and the Supreme Court overturned the court decision.[30]
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 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.[31]
In 2024, there were several cases of detention of unaccompanied children who were considered to be an an adult following age assessment. In one case, the second instance court released the child, rising doubts about the age assessment procedure followed. In the second case, the child was released by the Border Guards in Biała Podlaska, after 2 months of detention, as his identity was confirmed by the Embassy.[32]Moreover, the different branches of Border Guards confirmed that due to age assessment procedures several foreigners were recognised as children: 2 in Kętrzyn by x -ray method, 2 boys in Biała Podlaska by dental examination, 6 children in Lesznowola, and 2 in Przemyśl and in Krosno. [33]
[1] Letter of Border Guards Headquaters, 7 March 2025.
[2] Letter of Nadwiślański Border Guard Unit, 7 February 2025.
[3] Amnesty International, Poland: Cruelty Not Compassion, At Europe’s Other Borders, 11 April 2022, available here; Information from different branches of Border Guards; information form HFHR, March 2023; Letter of Border Guard in Bieszczadzki Border Guard Unit, 25 February 2025.
[4] RPO, ‘KMPT ad hoc visit to the Border Guard post in Narewka’, 25 March 2022, available in Polish here.
[5] Previously, the minimum was 4 sqm.
[6] CPT, 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 i here.
[7] Information provided by the of Bieszczadzki Border Guard Unit, 24 February 2025, Warminsko-Mazurski Border Guard Unit, 6 February 2025, Nadbużański Border Guard Unit, 6 February 2025.
[8] Information provided by Head of the Office for Foreigners, access to the public information, 19 February 2025,
[9] Commissioner for Human Rights, 31 August 2022, available in Polish here.
[10] Information provided by HFHR, 20 January 2025.
[11] CPT, 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 here; Information provided HFHR, 20 January 2025. NPM, report 26 March 2025 from a visit in premisies of Nawal Border Guard Unit in Kołobrzeg,
[12] Commissioner for Human Rights, Krajowy Mechanizm Prewencji KMP.572.7.2023.KK, Raport Krajowego Mechanizmu Prewencji Tortur z wizytacji Strzeżonego Ośrodka dla Cudzoziemców w Białej Podlaskiej, 4 January 2024, available in Polish here. NPM, report 26 March 2025 from a visit in premisies of Nawal Border Guard Unit in Kołobrzeg,
[13] CPT, 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 here.
[14] Commissioner for Human Rights, Krajowy Mechanizm Prewencji KMP.572.7.2023.KK, Raport Krajowego Mechanizmu Prewencji Tortur z wizytacji Strzeżonego Ośrodka dla Cudzoziemców w Białej Podlaskiej, 4 January 2024, available in Polish here.
[15] 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. CPT, 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 here.
[16] CPT, 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 here.
[17] Information provided by the Office for Foreigners, 19 February 2025.
[18] Information provided by the Head of the Office for Foreigners, 2025.
[19] Information provided by Ocalenie Foundation, 12 March 2024.
[20] Information provided by Rule of Law Institute, 20 January 2023.
[21] Information provided by Krosno Odrzańskie, 53 February 2025.
[22] Information provided by Bieszczadzki Border Guard Unit, 24 February 2025.
[23] Information provided by Warmińsko-Mazurski Border Guard Unit in Kętrzyn 6 February 2025.
[24] Information provided by Nadwiślański Border Guard Unit, 07 February 2025.
[25] Letter of Podlaski Border Guard Uni, in Białystok, 6 February 2025.
[26] Letter of Nadbużański Border Guards Unit, 13 February 2024.
[27] 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 here.
[28] RPO, ‘Unjustified use of a stun gun by a Border Guard officer against a foreigner. Ombudsman requests investigation’, 9 March 2023, available in Polish here.
[29] 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 here.
[30] Commissioner for Human Rights, ‘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 here.
[31] Commissioner for Human Rights, Krajowy Mechanizm Prewencji KMP.572.6.2023.MD, Raport Krajowego Mechanizmu Prewencji Tortur z wizytacji Strzeżonego Ośrodka i Aresztu dla Cudzoziemców w Przemyślu, 12 January 2024, available in Polish here.
[32] Regional Court in Suwałki, II KZ 146/24, decision 2 July 2024; case of HFHR, May 2024.
[33] Information provided by Nadodrzański Border Guard Unit, 25 February 2025, Bieszczadzki Border Guard Unit 24 February 2025, Nadwislanski Border Guard Unit 7 February 2025 , Warminsko-Mazurski Border Guard Unit-6 February 2025, Nadbużański Border Guard Unit 6 February 2025.