throughout the country. The SPT requests further information as to whether the budgetary per capita allocation for prisoners ’ food includes funds to pay food providers and if so, as to what proportion of the allocation goes to the food providers. It also wishes to receive information as to the procurement contracts granted to outside providers of food, in particular with regard to quality control of the food provided and any inspections which the Ministry of Justice conducts of the outside providers. 196.The system of purchasing food was run by the prisoner hierarchy. For example, male adolescent detainees in one prison described how in their unit of 26 they pooled their resources to have food for everyone; they received money from visitors, but if one did not have visitors, they all shared. One prisoner was designated as the secretary in charge of food, deciding upon what was provided and how it was shared; one prisoner went to collect the food provision for the whole male adolescent detainee unit. The two chef-bâtiment adjointes at Abomey Prison went to collect the food provision from the male detainees, and then distributed it among the women in the two buildings. 197.The value of the food-stuffs or cooked food available to each prisoner on average through this process was observed by the delegation to be far less than the reported per capita ration. It was impossible to avoid the conclusion that some individuals, whether in the prison service or among the prisoner hierarchy or in both, were reaping personal gain from the process of food provision. The corollary of this was that some prisoners as well as staff appeared to have an economic interest in the prison population remaining at a high level. 198.Additional food was provided by commercial vendors who came from the local markets to the prisons and sold foodstuffs for prisoners to purchase and cook for themselves, as well as cooked food. Further, prisoners told the delegation that they relied heavily on their relatives to supplement the food ration and to provide them with money to purchase more food in the prison market places. In this regard, the delegation noted that the cost of food available in the prison market places or from sellers from outside the prison was noticeably higher than the cost of food outside the prison. The SPT recommends that prices are regulated to approximately the cost of food products available outside the prison. 199.At Abomey Prison, the male adolescent detainees were provided with food not only from their families outside, but also through UNICEF’s World Food Programme. UNICEF provided raw materials for cooking and the adolescent detainees cooked food for themselves as a unit. When the store of raw materials decreased, the adolescent detainees made a list and UNICEF provided further supplies. The women detainees also confirmed that they had recently received food from UNICEF for the female adolescent detainees and for the babies and young children of women detainees. 200.However, the babies and young children who were living with their mothers in prison did not have an official food allocation, and prisoners with babies or young children had to stretch their ration to feed them. The SPT recommends that the prison authorities and the Ministry of Justice immediately conduct a census of the number of babies and young children living with their mothers in all prisons in Benin, in order to ensure that an adequate supplementary food ration is distributed to the mothers, many of whom are still breastfeeding. 201.There was a particular problem of food provision for prisoners newly arriving at Cotonou Prison. One such prisoner interviewed said that he had arrived on Monday evening, having been in police custody since Friday without any food apart from some bread which his brother gave him during his court appearance; when interviewed at 11.45 on Tuesday he had still not had anything else to eat. Another remand prisoner interviewed on a Tuesday at midday gave a similar account: he had been apprehended on the previous Thursday, which was the last time he had eaten food; he had been told that he would be given some prison food at 15.00 hours. 202.A particular problem arose relating to the prisoners sentenced to death and held at Cotonou Prison. They reported that two male adolescent detainees were assigned to buy them food and prepare it. Aside from the fact that this breached the rule of separation of adolescent and adult detainees, prisoners sentenced to death had little or no access to food to supplement the daily ration provided by the prison. 203.In Akpro-Missérété Prison, the main challenge for prisoners was supplementing their daily ration. They complained that, because of the location of the prison (which is slightly out of town), they could not access sellers from outside the prison. In addition, those prisoners who had been transferred from prisons located far away from Akpro-Missérété, such as Abomey and Kandi, could no longer rely on their families to supplement the daily ration. As a result, some prisoners had begun cultivating land within the prison compound which, according to the director, was originally not meant to be accessed by prisoners. The delegation also observed that a shop was kept by a civilian within the prison walls, but it was not clear how many prisoners could afford to buy food there. 204.The SPT considers it a fundamental requirement that every prisoner be provided with food sufficient to meet his or her nutritional needs. The daily ration provided by the Ministry of Justice is seriously deficient in the minimum daily requirements for energy, vitamins and minerals. In particular, the ration appears to provide only between 45% and 75% of the daily energy needs, and on most days is deficient in protein, fat, Vitamins A and C, Riboflavin, Iron Calcium and Iodine. The SPT recommends that in every prison food should be provided to all prisoners, on a non-discriminatory basis, and carefully monitored by the prison administration, to ensure that provision meets the nutritional needs of individuals held in prison. 205.By letter of 7 November 2008, the authorities informed the SPT that a sensitization session was held for food providers at the Ministry of Justice, Legislation and Human Rights. Likewise, prison visits were conducted, as a result of which a control register is now available for comments as to the quality and quantity of meals by a representative for detainees, the director, the health staff and the registrar. In addition, directors received instructions to refuse meals which are not satisfactory. (c)Water and hygiene 206.The sanitary facilities were quite unable to cope with the level of over-population in the prisons visited. The supply of water for