CAT/OP/MKD/1 46. The Subcommittee is concerned that most detainees interviewed complained of the quality and quantity of food (often canned, lacking expiry dates) provided by the prison system and the limited attention paid to medical or religious considerations in providing meals. Virtually all detainees with family in the local area were provided with food and other supplies by their families, putting those without family in the area and/or without sufficient finances at a significant disadvantage. The lack of any hygienic storage facilities (food was scattered on shelves through the cells), including cold storage facilities is of concern owing to fear of attracting rodents and possibly affecting the health of detainees. According to detainees, even in prisons that produce their own food, detainees do not receive it and menus displayed in prisons do not always represent the food provided. Kumanovo prison was the only prison where all the detainees interviewed praised the food. 47. The Subcommittee recommends that the State party take steps to ensure that material conditions in all prisons/facilities, including new prisons (which should be maintained), and irrespective of regime, comply with international standards. 3 The State party should also focus on improving access to water, the quality and quantity of food provided and hygiene products. All basic needs should be provided by the prison service. 48. The Subcommittee is concerned at the lack of recreational activities and minimal opportunities for work for detainees and the lack of resocialization programmes and vocational training throughout the prison system. Even in prisons that do have some workshops for training (woodwork, metal work or production of toilet paper), few, if any, detainees reported having been engaged in them. The Subcommittee is also concerned that detainees, in particular those in closed regimes, were confined for up to 22 or 23 hours a day with nothing to do. Some detainees in closed units indicated that they were only allowed one hour a day of exercise time, contrary to the provisions of the Law on Execution of Sanctions, 2006. The Subcommittee notes that while some detainees in some prisons (for example, Kumanovo, Shtip, Bitola and Prelip) have the possibility of working in the prison or in private companies, and are often reimbursed for their services, some jobs performed around the prison are not reimbursed. 49. Given that a satisfactory programme of activities (including work, education and sport) is of crucial importance for the physical and mental well-being and reintegration of prisoners, the Subcommittee recommends that the State party ensure that detainees can spend a reasonable part of the day, eight hours or more, outside their cells or dormitories, together with other prisoners, engaged in purposeful activities of a varied nature and irrespective of regime. 4 The Subcommittee further recommends that prisoners are provided with vocational training and that detainees have the opportunity to work, for the purpose of maintaining or increasing their ability to earn a living after release. 50. The Subcommittee observed that the system whereby detainees were classified into different regimes (open, semi-open and closed) lacked transparency, an objective assessment and appeared to disproportionately negatively affect minority groups and foreigners. That is an important issue, as it determines the privileges and activities open to detainees. The Subcommittee also observed that the registers in many prisons, including in solitary confinement cells, were not always very comprehensive, difficult to understand and often placed in different locations throughout the prison. 51. The Subcommittee recommends that a clear and transparent system be established with an objective risk assessment of detainees prior to assignment to a particular regime. Registers should be simplified and harmonized, and information about detainees should be available centrally, in a comprehensive and systematic manner.5 3 4 5 See United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules), in particular rules 5.2, 12, 13, 17, 42 and 59. See rule 4 of the Nelson Mandela Rules and rules 25.1 and 27 of the European Prison Rules. See rules 6–10 of the Nelson Mandela Rules. 11