A/HRC/25/60/Add.1 Government took initial steps to submit a bill on ratification to Parliament, but the process has stalled. Ratification of the Optional Protocol and designation of a national preventive mechanism under article 17 are urgently needed for more effective monitoring of all places of detention, particularly in the light of the critical issue of overcrowding. The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice has indicated that it is ready to act as the national preventive mechanism. C. Conditions of detention Overcrowding 40. As of November 2013, there was a prison population of 14,101, of which between 20 and 25 per cent were remand detainees. The Prisons Service stated that the total capacity of the prison system is 9,875, indicating an overcrowding rate of 140 per cent. As alarming as that figure is, it is an underestimate of the real rate of overcrowding, because it is based on the number of beds available in relation to the actual prison population. In some prisons, the beds themselves are so close together that, at full capacity or even at somewhat below capacity, living conditions would still be overcrowded. 41. According to the information received from the authorities in the prisons visited by the Special Rapporteur, the overcrowding actually ranges from a “low” of full capacity (100 per cent occupation) to a high of 400 per cent in some prisons, if the total inhabitable capacity of each facility is reasonably assessed. International guidelines require 1.5 to 3 cubic metres of space per inmate, not counting common areas and toilets and showers. The rate of overcrowding is calculated as the actual population divided by such capacity. The overcrowding has been further aggravated by the dilapidated nature of some remand facilities, which were deemed so unfit for purpose that they were ordered to be closed. 42. Ankaful maximum security prison is a modern prison, commissioned in November 2011, to remedy the overcrowding by housing prisoners serving lengthy sentences for serious and violent crimes. The first phase is operational and has an official capacity of 2,000, but at the time of the Special Rapporteur’s visit there were only 343 prisoners. The second phase is in a preliminary planning stage and will include a school, workshops, recreation and religious facilities and accommodation for prison officers. 43. With the exception of Ankaful maximum security prison, the open prison camp in Ankaful and the Senior Corrections Facility for juveniles, the prisons visited had alarming rates of overcrowding. The male section of Nsawam prison was holding over five times its official capacity (3,773 inmates for an official capacity of 717) and Kumasi prison was holding over 2.5 times capacity (1,981 inmates for an official capacity of 800). Cell blocks there contained 115 convicted prisoners sharing a space approximately 8 x 5 metres. The remand sections were often even worse, with cells so overcrowded (40 in a cell designed for 4) that inmates were lying head to toe in a foetal position. In Sekondi prison, the inmates slept in shifts, sitting up, owing to the lack of space. 44. The Special Rapporteur also visited the holding cells of several police stations in different regions. The conditions in the cells visited were generally extremely poor. The situation at Nkawkaw police station was particularly bad: 32 inmates were subjected to extreme overcrowding in a small and overheated cell, with no ventilation, water or bedding. Food 45. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the fact that in 2012 the Government increased the food budget threefold and the Prisons Service now allocates 90 United States cents per inmate per day. However, the authorities openly acknowledge that this amount does not allow for sufficient portions that are nutritionally balanced, owing to the overcapacity rate 9