MONITORING PLACES OF DETENTION : A PRACTICAL GUIDE 139 MATERIAL CONDITIONS Visiting mechanisms are likely to devote a large part of their time to examination the material conditions in which detainees are held. By depriving a person of his or her liberty the authorities assume responsibility for providing for that person’s vital needs. The deprivation of liberty in itself bears a punitive character. The state has no authority to aggravate this by poor conditions of detention that do not meet the standards the state has committed itself to upholding. Decent living conditions in places of detention are essential for the preservation of the detained person’s human dignity. Living areas, food, and hygiene are all factors which contribute to the detainee’s sense of dignity and well-being. Visitors should examine the overall structural conditions of the place of detention; power supply, water supply, waste management and cleaning are all important issues for human dignity. Visitors should not forget that the detainees’ living conditions are also the staff’s working conditions. Among detention conditions, the problem of overcrowding is one of the most important, above all because it has a negative influence on all other aspects of detention and on the general climate in the establishment. When it reaches certain levels, or when it is combined with other negative factors, overcrowding can even constitute inhuman or degrading treatment. 3