Annual Report 2010 by the National Preventive Mechanism against Torture Individual cells are used to facilities are usually outside the cells themselves, though frequently there are also hold juveniles or persons individual cells with toilets, for use by juveniles or persons with special with special needs needs. Individual cells usually have metal plate doors with a small opening to facilitate surveillance. Inspection of doors on the remaining cells revealed the existence of horizontal bars at district stations in Lleida, San BlasVicálvaro (Madrid), Segovia and Torrelavega (Cantabria). Their replacement was requested, in view of the potential risk that they entail. At the police headquarters in Melilla it was recommended that the door of the holding cell for juveniles should be changed, since the bars on the opening could be used by detainees to injure themselves or to attempt suicide. Indeed, a female detainee inflicted injuries on herself here in September 2009 and died three months later. Generally poor conditions 48. In the holding facilities per se visited (i.e. cells and adjacent service areas) as regards conservation & the general standard of conservation and upkeep was observed to be poor, with upkeep of holding facilities per se (cells & adjacent the exception of certain recently constructed or refurbished establishments service areas) except in such as the Central Inspectorate for Detainees [Inspección Central de Detenidos] newly-constructed or in Valencia and the stations in Alicante and the Delicias district of Valladolid. refurbished buildings A case in point is the district station at Campo de Madre de Dios in Cordoba, where the condition of the cells was generally inadequate. In the San BlasVicálvaro district police station in Madrid there was damp and water filtering into the corridors and pooling on the floor. Other examples of substandard establishments are the Extremadura Police Headquarters in Badajoz and the Central District police station in Madrid. The size of cells is adequate 49. As indicated above, most cells are collective. Their size can be considered in general, in view of the in general as sufficient for the average number of detainees observed on each average number of detainees observed on each visit visit. Problems in this regard were however detected at the Murcia Police Headquarters and at Ibiza district police station in the Balearic Islands. Given the many different factors that need to be considered, it was decided to take as a benchmark the criteria set out in the 2nd GR of the CPT (1991, para. 43), i.e. that the desirable size for cells intended for single occupancy is around 7 m², with at least 2 m between walls and 2.5 between floor and ceiling. On the basis of this figure and other pronouncements by the CPT, a general proportion of 5 m per person was taken as acceptable (Monitoring of Places of Detention: A Practical Guide, APT, p. 162) for collective cells. It was also recommended that the materials used to clad the walls of some cells — e.g. at the Murcia Police Headquarters and the district station in Ciudad Real — be changed as they are easily removable and could entail risks for the safety of detainees. 50 THE OMBUDSMAN OF SPAIN