CAT/OP/MEX/1/Add.2 12. The Act also incorporates ongoing initiatives and programmes on training with respect to the promotion and observance of human rights and the lawful conduct of law enforcement bodies. 13. Through these reforms the Mexican Government is complying with relevant recommendations of international mechanisms, in particular those related to harmonizing the definition of torture, as well as enhancing the work of the National Human Rights Commission. 14. One of the major challenges facing the Mexican Government is to reform the prison service, rectifying structural shortcomings with regard to facilities, infrastructure, systems and staffing of places of detention. 15. Mexico’s federal prison system dates back to the establishment, in 1905, of the Islas Marías penal colony to accommodate the most dangerous offenders. For 86 years it was the only federal penitentiary. In December 2006 the current administration took over a federal prison service with antiquated systems and premises. 16. A first step towards restructuring the prison system was the federal penitentiary strategy. Introduced in 2007, this strategy was based on four key areas: expanding federal prison capacity and the capacity of the Islas Marías complex; transferring state penitentiaries to the federal prison system and introducing a public-private investment arrangement for building new federal prisons under service procurement contracts. 17. Eight additional federal penitentiaries are currently being constructed under this arrangement, which will make it possible to increase the prison infrastructure by more than 20,000 places. This will provide some 20,000 spaces for federal offenders to be placed in federal custody with advanced intelligence mechanisms for prison surveillance. 18. The federal prison system is now able to accommodate prisoners sentenced under state (non-federal) jurisdiction whose dangerousness requires maximum security and for the first time has special premises for women prisoners. 19. Two facilities having the latest equipment for prisoner screening, supervision and surveillance as well as personnel trained in operational and custodial techniques were opened on 28 February 2012 at the north-western federal penitentiary complex. 20. The increase in prison capacity by the Federal Government has been accompanied by a policy of providing financial assistance and support to state authorities for the purpose of developing their infrastructure in the area of public and prison security. 21. Mexico’s prison structure comprises 429 places of detention spread across the national territory, with a capacity to house 176,911 prisoners, but there is an excess population of 45,386 inmates, representing 25.65 per cent overcapacity. 22. At the beginning of the current administration there were 210,140 prisoners within the country’s entire prison system, of whom 49,217 had been convicted of crimes under federal jurisdiction. At that time, only 3,164 were serving their sentences in federal penitentiaries, equivalent to 6.4 per cent of all federal prisoners in Mexico. 23. The entire prison system currently houses 230,943 inmates, of whom 47,816 were convicted of federal crimes. A total of 18,263 convicted offenders are held in federal penitentiaries, equivalent to 38 per cent of all federal prisoners in the country, meaning a sixfold increase in federal prison capacity in just five years. 24. The states having the largest numbers of state and federal offenders in custody nationwide are the Federal District and the states of Baja California, Jalisco, Mexico and Sonora, together accounting for 50 per cent of all prisoners. 6 GE.13-41196 (EXT)