CAT/OP/PER/1 (d) Contact with the outside world 41. Many of the prisoners interviewed complained that the National Prison Institute had cut visiting hours for security reasons. In the Trujillo, Chiclayo and Cajamarca prisons, for example, visits are only allowed two days per week and only for immediate family members (father, mother, children and partner). Women who visit prisoners are often forced to undergo searches of their private parts, and the same glove is used for several searches. Items or food that visitors bring for their relatives are often confiscated, and visitors are often subjected to rude and discriminatory treatment. Some persons deprived of their liberty complained that they had not been allowed to attend the funerals of their immediate family members. National Prison Institute officials, for their part, complained that they did not have sufficient capacity or technology to screen visitors and thereby prevent the entry of prohibited objects or substances. 42. In some prisons the persons deprived of their liberty who were interviewed said that it was extremely rare for any bodies to come and inspect their living conditions. If representatives of the Ombudsman’s Office showed up in response to a specific incident, they did not visit the cell blocks and the prisoners had no opportunity to meet with them. The Ombudsman’s Office, for its part, said that it did not have the capacity to make regular visits to prisons or maintain direct contact with persons deprived of their liberty in order to monitor their living conditions. NGOs did not conduct visits either, apart from providing pastoral care in some prisons. 43. The Subcommittee recommends training staff who deal with visitors in respect for visitors’ rights. Body searches should comply with the criteria of necessity, reasonableness and proportionality and should be carried out under sanitary conditions by qualified personnel of the same sex as the person being searched. Searches of private parts should be prohibited.13 44. The Subcommittee recommends not limiting visiting hours except in very exceptional situations, and making it possible for persons deprived of their liberty to attend the funerals of immediate family members. (e) Situations of self-governance 45. In the Lurigancho prison, the Subcommittee observed a situation of self-governance whereby true control of the blocks is in the hands of groups of prisoners who make their own rules and arrangements. This leads to situations in which the other prisoners are under the thumb of the dominant group. In addition, the prison operates in such a way that commercial transactions of all kinds go on, including payment for particular areas or the best cells and for privileges that are available only to those with financial resources. Some prisoners explained to the Subcommittee that mandatory fees have to be paid to retain certain “rights” within the prison. 46. The Subcommittee recommends carefully monitoring situations of selfgovernance so as to prevent abuses and corruption in prisons, and taking immediate action to enable the State to take full and effective control of all prisons. 2. Health services 47. A shortage of human and material resources was evident in relation to the health services in the prisons visited. In the men’s prison in Chiclayo, for example, where there are around 2,440 prisoners, there is only one doctor. In some prisons, one doctor has to see up to 80 patients in a 24-hour shift. Other prisons have no doctor assigned to them at all, such as the women’s prisons in Trujillo, Huacariz and Yanamayo. In all prisons, a lack of basic medicines is the norm. The capacity to perform biochemical analyses, X-rays and other tests is very limited, making it difficult to diagnose and prevent diseases. Many persons deprived of their liberty said that they had to pay guards or representatives to gain access to first aid stations. 13 8 Principles and Best Practices on the Protection of Persons Deprived of Liberty in the Americas, principle XXI. GE.17-13638