What should the conditions be in the place of detention?
To evaluate if you are being held according to human rights standards, you should pay attention to these basic conditions:
- Are men and women being held separately (unless you are a family)?
- Is your room big enough for the number of people in it?
- Is your room clean?
- Is it too hot or cold in the room?
- Do you have a bed, mattress, blanket and bed linen?
- Do you have a toilet and sink in your cell, which is properly separated from the rest of the cell?
- Do you have regular access to a shower in privacy and hygiene products?
- Do you have daylight during the day and lighting after dark?
- Are you able to go outside for a walk at least once a day?
- Have you been fed three times a day and given unlimited access to drinking water?
- Is it too cold or too hot in your cell?
- Are men and women being held separately?
- Have you been able to take a shower regularly and received the necessary hygienic products?
In Slovakia, the details and standards of these conditions are explained in the Act on Execution of Detention and the Act on Residence of Foreigners.
Men, women and persons younger than 18 shall be placed separately. This doesn’t apply if you are a family. If the facility decides to separate a family, it shall always make sure that the consequences of this separation are adequate to the reasons.
The accommodation room must be equipped with electric lighting, table, chairs, beds and cases for personal belongings, the number of which corresponds to the number of accommodated persons.
Food
Food shall be arranged depending on local conditions and at the appropriate time in accordance with healthy nutrition principles and considering your age, health condition and religion. The first food shall be provided after the time of your detention exceeds six hours. This doesn’t apply if your health and age or other serious circumstance the police officer is aware of needs to be considered. Food for minors is provided five-times a day, usually so as to provide first food after the time of detention exceeds three hours.
If you refuse the food provided, the police officer shall make an official record of it, specifying the reason for refusal of food, and advise you of this record forthwith in the language you understand and submit the official record to you for signing, in the presence of another police officer. If you refuse to sign the official record on refusing the food, the fact shall be recorded by the police officers in the official record and be provided to their superior.
Food expenses are paid by the Slovak Republic. If you were however detained to execute your administrative expulsion, the payment of food expenses shall be paid by you, unless you were illegally employed or had been granted temporary residence.
What human rights violation may there be?
Being held in inappropriate conditions may be very humiliating and cause physical and psychological suffering. For example, if you are denied food or water, or you do not have a bed or if your room is very dirty. If you suffer these conditions for a longer period or several of them at the same time, it may result in human rights violations. This is called inhumane or degrading treatment.
But, the mistreatment must reach at least a minimum level of severity. When assessing whether you have been held in conditions that are inhumane or degrading, such things as the duration of the bad conditions, the physical and psychological effects, your age, gender and the condition of your health would be taken into account. Read more about how to evaluate whether your rights have been violated.