CAT/C/LVA/CO/6 prison or prison, meaning that they may be returned to small police stations that are not suitable for this purpose. The Committee is also concerned that pretrial detention can last for up to 20 days, that this period has not been changed for persons detained for more serious crimes, and that the duration of deprivation of liberty in short-term detention facilities may also depend on the workload of the relevant court and the backlog of cases (arts. 2, 10, 12, 13 and 16). 13. The State party should: (a) Take all the necessary measures to ensure that persons are held in shortterm detention facilities for as brief a period as possible and for no longer than the period prescribed by law, and envisage using alternatives to pretrial and remand detention, as laid out in the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Noncustodial Measures (the Tokyo Rules); (b) prison; Ensure that persons remanded in custody are promptly transferred to a (c) Take steps, including of a legislative nature, to enhance the efficiency of the judicial system and expedite judicial proceedings; ensure that prisoners and detainees are not returned to short-term detention facilities in small police stations, whether for logistical reasons, for further investigations or court proceedings or as a result of a backlog of cases in the courts; and provide the Committee with information on the duration of such detention, including for more serious crimes, and on the number of persons who have been held in pretrial detention during the current and previous reporting periods; (d) Establish strict rules concerning the duration of detention in police stations and ensure that the return of detained persons to police stations is authorized on an exceptional basis only, and based not on the sole decision of a police investigator but on individual consideration by a prosecutor or a judge; and that detained persons are held separately from convicted prisoners at all times; (e) Continue to give additional consideration to alternative, non-custodial measures, taking into account the provisions of the Tokyo Rules when devising the alternative measures to preventive detention. Conditions of detention 14. While noting the amendments to the Code on the Execution of Sentences concerning the minimum personal space per inmate in single and multiple occupancy cells, the closure of Dobele and Zemgale temporary facilities and Vecumnieki prison, the renovation of 21 police detention facilities throughout the country, the opening of the Drug Addiction Centre in Olaine prison hospital and increase in the hospital’s capacity to 120 beds, and the reconstruction of the juvenile detention facility in Cesis, the Committee remains concerned that: (a) The conditions of detention in places of deprivation of liberty continue to fall short of international standards, including with regard to material conditions such as hygiene, sanitation, humidity, ventilation and access to natural light, and substandard conditions persist in the Griva section of Daugavgriva prison, which has the status of historic monument; (b) The construction of the new prison in Liepaja has been postponed for budgetary reasons and the envisaged construction is due to be completed only in 2023; (c) The outdated prison infrastructure, whereby inmates are housed in very large cells that can hold more than 40 persons in old prison buildings, creates the conditions for inter-prisoner violence, a criminal subculture and hierarchical relations among the prisoners, especially in Daugavgriva, Jelgava and Riga Central prisons; (d) Places of deprivation of liberty have not been adapted for persons with disabilities, especially those with reduced mobility, who have to rely on help from other inmates, and there is a shortage of medical personnel; 5