CPT: 12TH GENERAL REPORT 47. Police custody is (or at least should be) of relatively short duration. Nevertheless, conditions of detention in police cells must meet certain basic requirements. All police cells should be clean and of a reasonable size5 for the number of persons they are used to accommodate, and have adequate lighting (i.e. sufficient to read by, sleeping periods excluded) ; preferably cells should enjoy natural light. Further, cells should be equipped with a means of rest (e.g. a fixed chair or bench), and persons obliged to stay overnight in custody should be provided with a clean mattress and clean blankets. Persons in police custody should have access to a proper toilet facility under decent conditions, and be offered adequate means to wash themselves. They should have ready access to drinking water and be given food at appropriate times , including at least one full meal (i.e. something more substantial than a sandwich) every day. Persons held in police custody for 24 hours or more should, as far as possible , be offered outdoor exercise every day. Many police detention facilities visited by CPT delegations do not comply with these minimal standards. This is particularly detrimental for persons who subsequently appear before a judicial authority ; all too frequently persons are brought before a judge after spending one or more days in substandard and filthy cells, without having been offered appropriate rest and food and an opportunity to wash. 48. The duty of care which is owed by the police to persons in their custody includes the responsibility to ensure their safety and physical integrity. It follows that the proper monitoring of custody areas is an integral component of the duty of care assumed by the police. Appropriate steps must be taken to ensure that persons in police custody are always in a position to readily enter into contact with custodial staff. 19 On a number of occasions CPT delegations have found that police cells were far removed from the offices or desks where police officers are normally present, and were also devoid of any means (e.g. a call system) enabling detained persons to attract the attention of a police officer. Under such conditions, there is considerable risk that incidents of various kinds (violence among detainees; suicide attempts; fires etc.) will not be responded to in good time. 49. The CPT has also expressed misgivings as regards the practice observed in certain countries of each operational department (narcotics, organised crime, anti-terrorism) in a police establishment having its own detention facility staffed by officers from that department. The Committee considers that such an approach should be discarded in favour of a central detention facility, staffed by a distinct corps of officers specifically trained for such a custodial function. This would almost certainly prove beneficial from the standpoint of the prevention of ill-treatment. Further, relieving individual operational departments of custodial duties might well prove advantageous from the management and logistical perspectives. 50. Finally, the inspection of police establishments by an independent authority can make an important contribution towards the prevention of ill-treatment of persons held by the police and, more generally, help to ensure satisfactory conditions of detention. To be fully effective, visits by such an authority should be both regular and unannounced, and the authority concerned should be empowered to interview detained persons in private. Further, it should examine all issues related to the treatment of persons in custody: the recording of detention; information provided to detained persons on their rights and the actual exercise of those rights (in particular the three rights referred to in paragraphs 40 to 43); compliance with rules governing the questioning of criminal suspects; and material conditions of detention. The findings of the above-mentioned authority should be forwarded not only to the police but also to another authority which is independent of the police. 5 As regards the size of police cells, see also paragraph 43 of the 2nd General Report (CPT/Inf (92) 3).