CAT/OP/MLI/1 Food 55. The provision of food is one of the greatest causes of concern in Mali’s prisons. The delegation found individuals dying of starvation, particularly in San, Kayes and Diéma, and others suffering from serious illnesses induced by malnutrition, such as scurvy and beriberi. Food provided consists solely of millet or corn as a staple and, once a week, rice or beans. Detainees do not receive fruit, vegetables, meat or fish except on rare occasions such as certain religious feast days. The extremely poor diet is the direct cause of numerous illnesses suffered by detainees. The situation is all the more shocking given that, as the delegation discovered, many prisons have vegetable gardens and livestock, but almost exclusively for the benefit of prison staff. 56. The State party must ensure that the quantity and quality of food distributed in prisons conform to the relevant international standards and must increase the food budget for each and every inmate without delay. The Government must ensure that fruit and vegetables are included in the prisoners’ diet and that detainees benefit from the produce of the prisons’ vegetable gardens and livestock operations. Separation of detainees 57. The separation of detainees by category does not follow a set standard in the prisons visited. In some, specific sections with generally better material conditions of detention are set aside for women (juveniles and adults), who also have free access to the exercise yard set aside for them. In prisons without separate quarters, women are either locked all day in the cell set aside for them or spend the day in the same exercise yard as male detainees under the supervision of a prison warder. Generally, juveniles are not housed separately from adults. The delegation also found that, in reality, there is no attempt to separate convicts from persons being held in pretrial detention. All this is very serious. 58. The State party must ensure that different categories of detainee are separated, in conformity with the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. Internal management 59. The internal management of many prisons is left to the prisoners themselves, following a well established hierarchy of cell bosses and a yard boss aided by deputies. In some cases, warders do not enter the prison itself and leave its day-to-day management, including entry to the prison compound and cells, entirely to the inmates. The cell and yard bosses in each prison thus enjoy considerable privileges with regard to the conditions of their custody. 60. The lack of supervision by the prison authorities means that power is in the hands of the strongest or richest inmates, who wield it arbitrarily against weaker and poorer inmates. This system of self-management also means that all communication between inmates and the prison authorities passes through, and is filtered by, the cell and yard bosses, making it impossible for inmates to file complaints against them. Moreover, discipline and disciplinary punishment are often directly administered by inmates, which leads to constant abuses, ill-treatment and corruption, even though discipline should remain at all times in the hands of the prison authorities and be implemented with the associated safeguards, which include ensuring that it is administered transparently, that all punishments are recorded and that inmates can file complaints. 61. A certain degree of self-management by inmates can be beneficial so long as it does not take the place of the management that the prison administration in general, and the prison director in particular, are responsible for providing. A self-management system unsupervised by the prison authorities is not acceptable. GE.14-41827 13