CAT/C/ARG/CO/5-6 Police violence 13. The Committee is concerned about reported patterns of violence and arbitrary behaviour by the federal and provincial security forces in connection with police custody that takes place without a court order, particularly in cases involving socially marginalized young people and children, who are reportedly sometimes detained for identity checks or other reasons not linked to criminal conduct. According to information received, such abuses can include attempted murder, as in the case of Lucas Cabello, and enforced disappearances and acts of torture, such as those allegedly inflicted on Ezequiel Villanueva, aged 15 years, and Iván Navarro, aged 18 years (arts. 2 and 16). 14. The Committee urges the State party to adopt effective measures to: (a) Investigate promptly, thoroughly and impartially all claims of murder, arbitrary detention, torture, harassment and police abuse and ensure that the alleged perpetrators and their superiors who knew, or should have known, that these acts were being committed are prosecuted and, if convicted, punished commensurately with the seriousness of their acts. The State should, in particular, ensure that genuine and impartial judicial proceedings are conducted in connection with the acts of torture inflicted on Ezequiel Villanueva and Iván Navarro; (b) Restrict the use of detention to situations of flagrante delicto or situations in which a warrant has been issued, as established in the judgment of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the case of Bulacio v. Argentina; (c) Ensure that all detained persons benefit, de jure and de facto, from all the basic legal safeguards from the moment of deprivation of liberty, that compliance with the system for registering detainees is scrupulously monitored and that all violations are punished. Detention conditions 15. While the Committee notes that new prisons are being built, it is concerned about the steady increase in the prison population since 2009, which is exacerbating the current levels of prison overcrowding in a number of provinces and has led to the state of emergency in the prison system of Buenos Aires province. The Committee also notes with concern the impact that the implementation of legislation relating to narcotic drugs has had in terms of increasing the female prison population. The Committee is also concerned that the occupancy rate mentioned by the delegation of the State party is calculated on the basis of a surface area of between 2 and 3.40 m2 per inmate in some cells, in accordance with Resolution No. 2892/2008, which is far smaller than the applicable standards of habitability. The Committee is further concerned about the practice of holding detained persons for prolonged periods in police premises, even though these are not intended for that purpose and the conditions in such buildings are substandard. In that connection, the Committee notes that seven inmates died in a fire at Police Station No. 1 in Pergamino, Buenos Aires, in March 2017. The Committee is also concerned about the effect of overcrowding on the deterioration of sanitary conditions, substandard food and access to medical treatment and on the inability to keep convicted and unconvicted prisoners separate, as documented in a number of collective lawsuits filed throughout the country (arts. 2, 11 and 16). 16. The Committee endorses the recommendations of the Subcommittee (CAT/OP/ARG/1, paras. 58-59, 62 and 64) and urges the State party to conduct an audit at both federal and provincial level with a view to bringing detention conditions in prisons and police stations into line with the Mandela Rules and to draw up a fire prevention plan for all places of detention. The State should also: (a) Redouble its efforts to reduce overcrowding in places of detention, notably by adopting alternatives to imprisonment; (b) Prohibit the use of police stations as places for the long-term detention of prisoners and ensure compliance with the prohibition; 4 GE.17-08409