Report On Spanish Detention Centres Released

Up to 40% of immigrants that are being held in many of the country's refugee detention centres claim to have been badly treated or even tortured by the guards and many of them don't even know who their legal representatives are and are kept in detention without basic facilities like toilets in their cells and, in some cases, without adequate clothing.

The report, published today by the Spanish Commission for Refugee Aid (CEAR), describes three of Spain's eight refugee detention centres (Málaga, Madrid and Valencia) based on a number of visits to the centres and more than a hundred interviews with refugees and the personnel in charge of them.

40% of the refugees interviewed said that they had been either "badly or very badly treated" by those in charge and although they said it was "not general practice", but an alarming 4% claimed to have been tortured.

Psychiatrist Pau Pérez-Sales, The author of the report, states that it needs to be remembered that 63% of those who are being held in Spain’s detention centres are not criminals, but rather people who don't have all their documentation in order.

According to the secretary general of CEAR, Alfredo Abad, the detention centres are "abhorrent" to the Spanish legal state and measures to combat the current situation should be taken immediately.