ANNUAL SPECIAL REPORT 2018 39 3. Hellenic Police and Coast Guard Detention Facilities 3.a. General annual findings The situation in cells worsens every year. During the years of spectacular increase in migratory flows, the State tried, under the pressure of circumstances, to create special spaces such as Pre-Detention Centres, in conjunction with Reception Centres and Identification Centres. However, the lack of space has led to the use, or rather the abuse, of conventional detention facilities. Police cells, designated by law for custody of prisoners for up to a few days, were and remain unsuitable for long-term detention. The phenomenon of changing their use resurfaced17, with the serving of sentences in police detention facilities, prior to the last law enforcement operation of decongestion of prisons. Establishments that have common standards but are solely used for administrative detention are mainly those of Taurus and Thessaloniki. Particular mention should be made of the detention facilities of the Aliens Division of Thessaloniki, where ELAS simply changed the legal status and is currently using one of the two floors of the detention facilities of the Sub-Directorate of Transfers and of certain regional departments (Mygdonia, Thermi, Agios Athanasios) without making any kind of change. In fact, unaccompanied minors are also kept in protective custody until places in other establishments are found, which puts at risk their normal development and violates rules on the international protection of the rights of minors. 17 The Greek Ombudsman, Report “Penal Detention in Police Detention Facilities”, https://www.synigoros.gr/resources/docs/201700.pdf