CAT/C/ARM/CO/4 equipment or lack of equipment and the shortage of medical staff in places of deprivation of liberty, owing to financial constraints, and about the independence and impartiality of the medical personnel employed in such facilities. 28. While welcoming the relevant legislative measures taken by the State party (see paras. 3 (e) and 4 (c) above) and noting that, according to the State party, both the draft Criminal Procedure Code and the draft Penitentiary Code would stress more firmly the principle of imprisonment as a last resort and would further liberalize the rules governing life imprisonment and early and conditional release, the Committee is concerned at the very low rate of conditional release and the lack of clear procedures for the early release of prisoners, including on health grounds. The Committee is also concerned that, despite positive improvements, the programmes of social rehabilitation and preparation for release need further strengthening. 29. The Committee also remains concerned at the reported instances of the denial of access to the Police Monitoring Group, mandated to monitor police temporary detention facilities and comprising human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs), to police establishments (arts. 2, 11 and 16). 30. The Committee reiterates its previous recommendation (see CAT/C/ARM/CO/3, para. 19) and urges the State party to continue to take effective measures, with a view to ensuring that the conditions of detention are in full compliance with the relevant international human rights standards, including the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) and, in particular, to: (a) Step up efforts aimed at improving living conditions in penitentiary establishments and address, among other things, unequal living conditions; and enhance the measures designed to prevent overcrowding in the future, particularly through the wider application of non-custodial measures as an alternative to imprisonment, in the light of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Noncustodial Measures (the Tokyo Rules); (b) Improve access to and the quality of health care, including psychiatric care, for prisoners in all places of deprivation of liberty, including for prisoners serving life sentences, provide for adequate medical equipment, increase the number of professional medical staff in all detention facilities and ensure their independence and impartiality; (c) Implement the legal and institutional framework on probation effectively; adopt clear procedures for the early release of prisoners on health grounds, ensure the proper examination of such requests by the relevant commission, provide for an appeal against the negative decisions of commissions charged with the consideration of requests for early release and release on parole and address their independence and impartiality, inter alia, by ensuring that such commissions have more balanced memberships; and develop and further strengthen existing programmes of social rehabilitation and preparation for release to ensure the successful social reintegration of prisoners upon release; (d) Ensure that the Police Monitoring Group has access to all police stations and the ability to conduct unannounced visits. Inter-prisoner violence and violence and degrading treatment against homosexual prisoners and sex offenders 31. The Committee is concerned at reports of the high incidence of inter-prisoner violence in penitentiary institutions, including incidents of self-harm, and notes the lack of 9