Annual report 2011: Spain’s National Preventive Mechanism Packaged food for detainees at the CNP district station in Chamberí, Photo 23 Madrid It was also observed that food was being provided by third parties, in contravention of the criteria laid down by this office From the interviews held with detainees it is concluded that in general there are no complaints about the food provided Requests were filed that beds be provided in those cases where cells were found not to contain any 82  It was also observed at some of the establishments inspected that food for detainees continued to be provided by third parties, in contravention of the recommendations in paragraphs 59 and 106 and elsewhere in the Annual Report 2010, based on the food safety problems that this could entail. This situation was detected at the CNP district stations in Albacete, Almería, El Ejido (Almería) and Huelva, the GC headquarters in Cuenca and the GC barracks in Aljaraque (Huelva), Bollullos Par del Condado (Huelva) and El Ejido (Almería). In the opinion of the DGCC this is acceptable and does not contravene point 11 of Section 5 of the SES Instruction 12/2007. The reply received from the DGP suggests that each district police station applies its own criteria, but that the practice is only allowed exceptionally and is subject to proper safety and security controls in compliance with Instruction 12/2007. This practice is however contrary to the recommendation made in the aforesaid paragraphs and needs to be changed. In the interviews held with detainees at various establishments there were in general no complaints about the food provided. However a detainee at the Mossos d’Esquadra station in Girona stated that he had eaten neither dinner nor breakfast “because my stomach was upset”. Some detainees at the Central Register of Detainees in Madrid complained that they had not eaten for hours and were hungry, and that at the district stations from which they had been transferred the food was scant and they had to shout when they wanted water. One stated that he was glutenintolerant and that for breakfast only sponge-cakes and similar products were offered, which he was unable to eat because of his condition. He also stated that at the district station where he had been held he had been given food containing gluten: “They didn’t give me anything that I could eat: my family brought me food from Friday to Sunday. Three days with nothing to eat would have been terrible”. 70. At all the establishments inspected to date the cells contain built-in plinths that serve as beds, except at the CNP district station in Almería, where there were several communal cells with no plinths. This is a shortcoming that affects how   THE OMBUDSMAN OF SPAIN