Police detention centres 2.6 Police detention centres 2.6.1 Introduction In 2020 the commissions carried out a total of 16 visits to (police) detention centres. The commissions mainly examined compliance with the stipulations that the Federal Ministry of the Interior has announced in several decrees for the prevention of COVID-19 infection in detention since March 2020. As in previous years, the commissions also focussed on identifying shortcomings in detention conditions, the structural and hygiene standards and deficits in the documentation of detention. 2.6.2 16 visits to police detention centres COVID-19 in police detention Because of the first nationwide lockdown and the risk of infection, the commissions were not able to carry out visits in police detention centres from 9 March 2020 until the beginning of June 2020. The NPM therefore obtained exofficio information weekly by telephone from March to the end of April 2020 from the Federal Ministry of the Interior on potential but not yet materialised cases of infection in the detention centres. The Federal Ministry of the Interior announced a decree in mid-March 2020 with rules for avoiding the transmission and spread of coronavirus infection in detention. This decree stipulated severe restrictions of the provisions set forth in the decree of the Ministry of May 2019 (see NPM Report 2019, pp. 151 et seq.). This included reducing visits to the detainees to “glass visits” in the legally regulated cases such as for legal counsel or return advice or from close relatives of detainees awaiting forced return whose forced return was imminent. The Ministry also stopped detention pending forced return completely in open sections of detention centres. Decree with massive restrictions in detention Moreover, there was a ban on transferring detainees to other police detention centres. This affected detainees awaiting forced return in particular who had to be detained for more than seven days and were not located in Vordernberg detention centre or in the police detention centres of Salzburg, Hernalser Gürtel or Roßauer Lände. Only these four facilities are set up for longer time detention pending forced return. However, the decree stipulated that the detainees shall still – only by cell and with social distancing – be able to exercise outdoors, shower and receive medical care. Furthermore, the Federal Ministry of the Interior committed all detention centres to have sufficient games, books and magazines in different languages to avoid swapping between cells and thus the transmission of infection. The NPM started evaluating the restrictions in April 2020 in order to document the effects on the detained persons. The Federal Ministry of the Interior Ex-officio evaluation of the decree 134