CAT/C/PAK/CO/1 Disappearances, especially with regard to increasing the power of the National Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances and allocating it adequate resources. Monitoring of places of detention 26. The Committee welcomes the State party’s information about the so-called “jail committees” that conduct periodic visits in every jail and prison to inquire about the state of the inmates and make recommendations to jail authorities to address inmates’ grievances. However, the Committee is concerned at reports that the jail committees have not been made operational in practice and about the lack of a fully independent monitoring mechanism (arts. 2, 11-13 and 16). 27. The State party should: (a) Ensure that the reports of the jail committees are made public and that the authorities follow up on cases in which monitors identify concerns about torture or ill-treatment; (b) Ensure that independent national and international monitors, including representatives of non-governmental organizations, are able to monitor all places of arrest, detention and imprisonment through regular visits, including unannounced visits. It should collect information on the place, time and periodicity of visits, including unannounced visits, to places of arrest, detention and imprisonment, and on the findings and the follow-up to the outcome of such visits; (c) Consider ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and establishing a national preventive mechanism. Conditions of detention 28. The Committee is deeply concerned about reports that cases of death in custody as a result of torture and allegations of sexual abuse of minors by prisoners and prison staff have not been subject to effective investigation and the perpetrators of such acts have not been punished. The Committee is also concerned at reports that severe overcrowding and extremely poor conditions are pervasive in places of detention in the State party, including unsanitary facilities and insufficient access to medical services. It is further concerned at reports that 70 per cent of the prison population consists of pretrial detainees and that juvenile prisoners are kept together with adults. The Committee is concerned that, despite a declaration by the High Court that the use of fetters is unconstitutional, fettering is reportedly still common in certain areas of Pakistan. The Committee is deeply concerned that individuals imprisoned on charges of blasphemy are frequently placed in solitary confinement for extended periods of time, as is reportedly the case of Junaid Hafeez, who has been held in solitary confinement since May 2014 (arts. 11 and 16). 29. The State party should: (a) Ensure that all cases of death in custody are promptly and effectively investigated; (b) Establish an independent and confidential complaints system for all persons deprived of their liberty; (c) Urgently strengthen efforts to alleviate overcrowding in detention facilities, including through the application of alternative measures to imprisonment; (d) Take effective measures to improve sanitation, health services and facilities available to all detainees and ensure that conditions of detention in the State party are brought into line with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules); (e) Ensure that pretrial detainees are held separately from convicts, women from men and minors from adults, and that allegations of sexual abuse are duly investigated and the perpetrators prosecuted and punished; 7