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recommendations made by the Office of the Ombudsman are effectively implemented;
and (iii) a national preventive mechanism is promptly established.
Conditions of detention
22.
While noting the construction of a new State prison in Vojkovici and the renovations
under way at existing facilities, the Committee remains concerned at the reported
substandard, sometimes life-threatening, living conditions at places of detention. It is
concerned that extremely poor conditions are pervasive in police holding facilities,
including a lack of natural light, inadequate ventilation and deplorable hygienic conditions.
While noting the increased use of alternative measures, such as house arrest with electronic
surveillance and community service, the Committee remains concerned at the severe
overcrowding at the correctional facility in Sarajevo and at the insufficient access by
prisoners to health-care services, full-time doctors and meaningful activities. While noting
the recent recruitment of new staff, the Committee nonetheless regrets the low level of
staffing at most prisons in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Committee notes
the frequent outbreaks of inter-prisoner violence and regrets the lack of information on
preventive measures taken by the State party and on the impact thereof (arts. 2, 11 and 16).
23.
The State party should strengthen its efforts to enhance conditions in prisons
and police holding facilities and ensure that they are in conformity with the United
Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson
Mandela Rules). In particular, it should:
(a)
Reduce the level of overcrowding in prisons, including by using
alternatives to imprisonment in accordance with the United Nations Standard
Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures (the Tokyo Rules) and the United
Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for
Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules), and by speeding up the construction of the
new State prison in Vojkovici;
(b)
Improve material conditions in prisons and police holding facilities,
including with regard to natural light, ventilation and beds necessary for an overnight
detention, and guarantee detainees access to adequate food and water;
(c)
Provide adequate access to high-quality health-care services and ensure
that access to medical doctors in the prison is comparable to that outside of the prison;
(d)
Adopt preventive measures to reduce inter-prisoner violence, including
by increasing the number of prison staff and providing prison officers with training
on appropriate and effective responses to inter-prisoner violence, and ensure that all
incidents of inter-prisoner violence are registered and investigated and those found
guilty are punished with penalties commensurate to the gravity of the offence;
(e)
Improve the vocational and physical activities provided to detainees in
order to facilitate their reintegration into society.
Special regime department and enhanced supervision unit in Republika Srpska
24.
The Committee is concerned about the absence of procedural safeguards in cases
where a detainee found to be disruptive or provocative is placed in a special regime
department with enhanced supervision in closed-type prisons in Republika Srpska (arts. 2,
11 and 16).
25.
The Committee recommends that the State party amend the Law on the Special
Regime to ensure that the decision to place a prisoner in the enhanced supervision
unit is not arbitrarily made and that prisoners subjected to such placement are
guaranteed the right to appeal to an independent authority.
Enforced disappearances
26.
While noting the steps taken to establish a central register of missing persons, the
Committee remains concerned at reports that more than half of the cases of missing persons
have not been verified, that the Missing Persons Institute continues to experience budget
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