A/HRC/10/44/Add.1 page 4 B. Prisons 9. The Special Rapporteur received numerous reports that corporal punishment continues to be used routinely by prison guards in full view of other prisoners in Bata and Black Beach prisons. On the other hand, he was encouraged to learn that corporal punishment has not been used in Evinayong prison for several months. III. CONDITIONS OF DETENTION A. Police or gendarmerie custody 10. With the exception of the recently built Bata Central Police Station, police and gendarmerie holding cells were generally in a deplorable condition. The cells were dirty and damp and lacked any sanitary or sleeping facilities. Generally speaking, food was only provided by families or fellow prisoners; access to water for drinking and washing was severely restricted; prisoners were often not allowed to use the toilet, and as a result had to resort to using plastic bottles or plastic bags; they had no opportunity to exercise and no access to medical care. The Special Rapporteur was also concerned at reports of violence among detainees, which were allegedly ignored or even tolerated by the authorities. 11. The fact that many detainees were held in these conditions well beyond the 72 hours stipulated by law, sometimes up to several months, exacerbates the situation and amounts to inhuman and degrading treatment. B. Prisons 12. Generally speaking the prisons are fairly spacious, although the Special Rapporteur was told that during periods of peak demand prisoners in one wing of Black Beach Prison had to share beds. One of the Special Rapporteur’s main concerns with regard to Black Beach Prison is that family visits seem to be prohibited, except for certain prisoners. The Special Rapporteur stresses that contact with the outside world is an important factor for the successful rehabilitation and reintegration of detainees, as stipulated in article 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 13. In all the prisons the Special Rapporteur received numerous complaints about the food, which is insufficient if not supplemented by family members. Although in Black Beach Prison medical doctors are on duty and can treat minor problems, access to medical treatment and medicine is severely restricted and completely unavailable in Bata and Evinayong Prisons. The most serious cases generally go untreated if the detainee cannot afford to pay for treatment. 14. Another major problem identified by the Special Rapporteur was the allegation that some persons suspected of political crimes had been held in solitary confinement in Black Beach Prison for up to four years, without being allowed the one hour of exercise per day required by the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. Moreover, they were said to have