8 Foreword by the Greek Ombudsman P laces of detention are operating at their absolute limits. This is a long-standing conclusion reflected in every report of the Greek Ombudsman's National Preventive Mechanism since its inception in 2014. The year 2018 was no exception. One of the most fundamental and ongoing problems recorded is the exceeding of capacity limits in detention centres. Given that total prison capacity has long been maintained at the same level, and given the temporary and extraordinary character of recent legislation aiming at decongestion, the warnings of the Ombudsman's National Preventive Mechanism were emphatically borne out in 2018. At the same time, there are shortfalls with regard to securing the necessary resources and the appropriate staff, with a detrimental impact on the quality of infrastructure and support for creative activity programmes, for psychological support and for the safety of prisoners. Especially as regards the adequacy of security measures, the recording of a significant number of deaths and incidents of violence has raised considerable concern. The situation in the detention centres of the Greek Police and the Coast Guard has not exhibited real signs of improvement. The Mechanism’s report for 2018 records, once again, phenomena of long-term detention – for periods of up to several months – of detainees facing criminal charges as well as instances of detention of unaccompanied minors, in the context of 'protective custody'. Pre-Departure Centres (ProKeKA) are also operating at their limits and are failing to meet European standards in terms of both infrastructure and staffing. Certain inconsistent improvements recorded in the report are mainly due to transient reductions in migratory flows, and are therefore considered to be temporary and precarious. Finally, with respect to the involuntary hospitalisation of individuals suffering from mental illnesses, it is a commonplace that provisions aiming to safeguard the rights of those individuals are in essence not fully implemented. The commitment to faithfully upholding rigorous, and sometimes inflexible, fiscal adjustment rules can no longer be an excuse for a failure to ensure