CAT/C/LVA/CO/2 page 6 Conditions of detention 12. The Committee is concerned that notwithstanding the measures taken by the State party to improve conditions of detention, including the adoption of the 2005 Concept on the Development of Penitentiaries and the establishment of the new Olaine Prison Hospital on 1 August 2007, there is continuing overcrowding in prisons. The Committee takes note of information provided on the improvement of conditions in some detention facilities and prisons but is concerned at the overall conditions in other prisons, remand centres and police short-term detention cells, including unsuitable infrastructures and unhygienic living conditions. The significant increase in the number of applications lodged with the Latvian National Human Rights Office (now the Ombudsman institution), including alleged violations of the right to human treatment and respect for human dignity (alternatively treatment in places of deprivation of liberty) in different kind of institutions, including closed institutions, is also a matter of concern. Additionally, the Committee is concerned at the occurrence of inter-prisoner violence and lack of statistical data that may provide breakdown by relevant indicators to facilitate determination of root causes and design of strategies to prevent and reduce such occurrences (arts. 11 and 16). The Committee recommends that the State party should: a) Continue its efforts to alleviate the overcrowding of penitentiary institutions, including through the application of alternative measures to imprisonment and the increase of budgetary allocations to develop and renovate the infrastructure of prisons and other detention facilities in the context of the Concept on the Development of Penitentiaries; b) Take effective measures to further improve living conditions in the detention facilities, including prisons and police short-term detention cells; and c) Monitor and document incidents of inter-prisoner violence with a view to revealing root causes and designing appropriate prevention strategies and provide the Committee with such data, disaggregated by relevant indicators, in the next periodic report. Furthermore, the Committee encourages the Ministry of Justice to proceed with the drafting of the standards of the places of deprivation of liberty. 13. While noting the elaboration and implementation of the 2005 guidelines for prison personnel providing instructions for the treatment of persons at risk of committing suicide, the Committee is concerned at the high number of suicides and other sudden deaths in detention facilities (arts. 11 and 16). The State party should strengthen its efforts to prevent suicide and self-harm risks in custody. The State party is encouraged to adopt a suicide prevention policy for prisons, including screening, reporting, data collection, training and education and establish social rehabilitation units for prisoners as indicated in the training seminar on ”Suicide Prevention in Prisons” on 18 May 2005. The State party should also ensure that all incidents of suicide and other sudden death are promptly and effectively investigated.