Place of detention

Author

Portuguese Refugee Council Visit Website

The legal framework of detention centres is enshrined in Act 34/94 which provides for the detention of migrants in Temporary Installation Centres (Centros de Instalação Temporária, CIT) managed by SEF, either for security reasons (e.g., aimed at enforcing a removal from national territory) or for irregular entry at the border. Detention facilities at the border (EECIT),[1] which are not CIT per se, have been classified as such by Decree-Law 85/2000 for the purposes of detention following a refusal of entry at the border.[2]

Source: Information provided by PSP (July 2025). This refers to the total capacity of the detention centre and is thus not limited to asylum applicants specifically.

According to the information provided by PSP, CIT-UHSA has an overall capacity for 29 persons (27 males and 2 females).

According to the information provided by the authorities, none of the facilities mentioned above have dedicated places for asylum applicants.

Source: Information provided by PSP (July 2025). This refers to the total capacity of the detention centre and is thus not limited to asylum applicants specifically.

The lack of capacity of the detention facilities referred to above has been frequently flagged by the authorities and many projects have been mentioned in the past as means to increase the detention capacity without significant follow-up.[5]

According to the information provided by PSP for the 2024 AIDA update, the following projects are currently foreseen:

• Construction of two new CITs in Odivelas and in Porto;
• Requalification of EECIT Porto;
• Requalification of EECIT Faro;
• Requalification and expansion of EECIT Lisbon.

PSP stated that there are no plans to increase capacity at CIT-UHSA, given the planned construction of new CITs.

CPR is unaware of the detention of asylum applicants in police stations or in regular prisons for the purposes of the asylum procedure.

It is publicly known that in the last quarter of 2023 and first quarter of 2024, asylum applicants and other migrants refused entry into national territory at Lisbon airport were frequently detained in the transit zone of the airport in appalling conditions (see: Conditions in detention facilities) due to the lack of capacity of the corresponding detention facility.[6]

According to the information provided by PSP, there is no limit to the number of persons that may be detained in such spaces. Also according to PSP, during 2024, out of 232 persons, 221 asylum applicants were initially placed in the transit zone of the Lisbon airport while waiting to be transferred to EECIT Lisbon. PSP claimed that the average duration of detention in the transit zone for migrants later transferred to EECIT Lisbon was 72 hours. It is not clear whether this figure includes asylum applicants. CPR’s observation and public reports point towards longer periods, particularly in the last quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024.

According to one media piece from December 2023, whose one of the main sources is one of the unions of PSP officials:[7]

• There were almost permanently 15 to 20 persons at the transit area awaiting a place in the detention facility;
• There were people detained in the transit area for 7 days, sleeping in benches;
• Access to hygiene facilities for showering and personal hygiene depended upon escort by PSP officials;
• Meals were provided by PSP officials and initial medical assistance by Doctors of the World (Médicos do Mundo, MdM), and airport medical services.

[1] Council of Ministers Resolution 76/97.

[2] See also Council of Ministers Resolution 76/97. In this context, it is important to underline, as recalled by the Ombudsperson: “The confinement of foreign citizens, including where it takes place in the international area of an airport, indeed consists in a deprivation of freedom (…) that goes beyond a mere restriction of freedom. On this matter cf. the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights n. º 19776/92, 25 June 1992 (Amuur v France).” Ombudsperson, Tratamento dos cidadãos estrangeiros em situação irregular ou requerentes de asilo nos centros de instalação temporária ou espaços equiparados, September 2017, available in Portuguese here, fn. 14 [unofficial translation].

[3] Includes a family room (capacity for 2 persons) and a multipurpose room for people with reduced mobility (capacity for 2 persons).

[4] According to PSP, citizens detained in EECIT Porto and EECIT Faro were transferred from EECIT Lisbon, where the detention order was initially ordered.

[5] For an overview of projects publicly mentioned in the past, please refer the to 2022 AIDA Update available here Regarding the lack of capacity of detention facilities See also: Ombudsperson, Mecanismo Nacional de Prevenção – Relatório à Assembleia da República 2022, July 2023,pp.99-100, available here.

[6] See, for instance: Diário de Notícias, Requerentes de asilo “dormem em bancos” no aeroporto. Sindicato da PSP denuncia situação “caótica”, 3 December 2023, available here; SIC Notícias, “Pomos roupa no chão e dormimos em cima”: 13 pessoas estão a viver no aeroporto de Lisboa, 20 December 2023, disponível em: here Jornal de Notícias, Número de requerentes de asilo a viver no aeroporto “vai crescer”, 20 December 2023, available here.

[7] Diário de Notícias, Requerentes de asilo “dormem em bancos” no aeroporto. Sindicato da PSP denuncia situação “caótica”, 3 December 2023, available here.