Our group consisted of thirty people. There were people from many countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ghana, etc… We were in a small village close to the Serbian border. It was almost two in the morning, when the police suddenly arrived. I think it was the neighbors who called them: when we reached this village, the dogs started to bark. So, the police came. One of us tried to escape, but the police dogs caught him. I saw them bite him. It was horrible. We could see the flesh being ripped from his arms, his calves. They, the police officers, laughed. They ordered us to sit on the ground. They handcuffed everyone, except for the children. They were very brutal. They had no respect for anyone. They hit and slapped us and then took us to the police station.

We stayed in a dirty and cold prison cell for two days. They did not give us any blankets and they brought one small sandwich to share among us. They took anything that was valuable to us. They took my cellphone and did not return it to me. They took our digital fingerprints to register us using the Dublin process. At the Immigration Office, they asked me a lot of questions. I told them everything.

The purpose of the interrogation was to see if I should be deported or sent to prison. They decided to send me to prison. They gave me no explanation. I had to see sign a paper that I did not understand because it was not translated, not even into English. I signed it.

We were taken to the Debrecen prison. When we got there, the police officers saw us and laughed at us. They told us to get undressed and to lie on the ground. Then, they gave us other clothes to wear. They robbed us here as well. I had managed to hide 100 Euros on me, but they found the money and took it from me. They told me they were keeping it for themselves. The prison cell that was meant to hold six people, had six beds. But, there were ten of us. It’s certain that those who arrived after us had to sleep on the floor. The prisoners who had been there before us had beds. Here, we were given blankets. They were never washed and they were covered with fleas. Some nights, I would wake up covered with blood. One day, a flea went into my ear. I asked several times to see a doctor, but they refused my request. Later on when I arrived in France, I went to the hospital where they diagnosed a serious ear infection… In prison, they did not care about our health.

I once saw a man with a serious skin problem. He could not stand on his legs anymore, so he just slept all the time. The prison guards were never concerned about him. A few days after my arrival, he died.

The police officers were really violent. They beat us on a regular basis. Once, they beat an Afghan man hitting him all over and very hard. He lost all of his teeth. Every time that the police officers saw a black person, they would spit on the ground. Once, a police officer spat on me. It was like that every day. We would see them speak in groups. We could not understand what they were saying, but we could feel their hatred.

In the prison, we were separated from the Hungarian prisoners. We would meet them only when we went outside for a walk and they were coming in. When they saw us, they would shout and laugh. They were as violent as the police officers.

The police officers told us if we wanted to be released, we would have to pay them 1,500 Euros. This was not official policy, it was just their way of making money. Those who could pay, were released. I did not have any money and could not pay. I remained incarcerated for 6 months. One day, some United Nations workers found out about prison conditions in Hungary, and ours in particular. They put pressure on the Hungarian government and I was released. But I had to go to a refugee camp next to the prison, where I stayed for two days and then escaped.”