A/HRC/28/68/Add.3 criminal cases, including pretrial detention. The Special Rapporteur urges the early adoption, implementation and strengthening of this measure throughout the country. D. Conditions of detention 61. Conditions of detention varied among the different centres visited. Overcrowding, however, is a serious problem affecting all the state prisons visited and most of the country’s detention centres. The Government reported a total prison population of 248,487 men and women, distributed among centres with a total capacity of 197,993 persons. Of the 389 detention centres in the country, 212 are overpopulated. This information, although worrying in itself, does not reflect the real extent of overcrowding, since capacity is measured in available beds and not the approximately 18 sq. metres of space — not counting common areas and toilets — that each detainee must have according to accepted standards. Given that beds are stacked on top of each other or crammed together in very small spaces, centres such as La Mesa in Tijuana or Nezahualcóyotl Bordo in the state of Mexico, which reported 260-per-cent and 120-per-cent overpopulation respectively, would be overcrowded even if the number of inmates were equal to the number of beds. 62. The Government reported that several detention centres had closed and new ones were being built. This has an impact on available capacity. Overcrowding is also caused by a failure to use alternatives to prison and by abuse of pretrial detention, especially its mandatory application. Of the total prison population of 248,487 detainees, 104,763 have been charged. The Special Rapporteur was told of cases of pretrial detention that considerably exceeded the constitutional limit of two years, a delay that could not be attributed to the detainee’s exercise of his right of defence, and observed that the requirement to segregate unconvicted prisoners from convicted prisoners is not always observed. 63. Overcrowding is aggravated by the strict regime operating in most of the centres visited. Inmates, both those awaiting trial and those who have been convicted, usually spend 22 to 24 hours a day in the cells, with limited access to the outdoors and to recreational, employment or educational opportunities. In centres where the regime is not so strict, such as Topo Chico in Monterrey and Santa Martha women’s prison in the Federal District, considerable flexibility was observed in the regime to which detainees are subject. This occasionally results in inmates having excessive control over services, benefits and the functioning of the prison (inmate “self-rule”), which gives rise to disparities in the exercise of rights, corruption and situations of violence and intimidation among inmates, all of which the State has a responsibility to prevent. The Special Rapporteur accepts that protective measures must sometimes be taken and that it is often inmates who request them, but such measures cannot involve cruel, inhuman or degrading conditions. He draws attention to the conditions observed in the Topo Chico prison “doghouse”, a small enclosure where over 40 detainees allegedly in need of protection are living in unacceptably cramped and insanitary conditions. 64. The infrastructure of most of the centres visited is in poor condition. In Nezahualcóyotl Bordo, Santa Martha, Topo Chico and La Mesa prisons, inmates generally had no water, light or ventilation in their cells. Health conditions were usually grim and many inmates had to sleep on the floor or in shifts. Cells need to be thoroughly disinfected to eliminate chronic skin complaints among inmates. The Special Rapporteur received generalized complaints about the small quantities and poor quality of food, a situation that is not helped by the fact that prisoners are not generally allowed to receive food from family members. 65. Procedures for applying disciplinary measures vary, but usually involve the convening of a disciplinary committee to allow the prisoner to be heard and the measures to GE.14-25288 15