A/HRC/13/39/Add.5 for a prolonged period of time also amount to inhuman or degrading treatment. In Uruguay, I found a surprisingly big difference among prisons, ranging from fairly good conditions for a few privileged prisoners in the Central Prison of Montevideo to absolutely appalling conditions in “Las Latas”, a section for the least “cooperative” prisoners in the infamous “Libertad” Prison. Three detainees were locked into tiny metal boxes designed for one person each, without adequate air, light, water, sewage, health care, etc. The noise, smell, heat and violence in those cages was unbearable even for the prison wardens and absolutely intolerable for the prisoners, some of whom had survived many months or even years under these inhuman conditions. 235. One of the most vulnerable groups are pre-trial detainees. Although they are entitled under article 14(2) ICCPR to be presumed innocent until found guilty by a competent court, and even though article 9(3) requires that pre-trial detention should be the exception rather than the rule and as short as possible, pre-trial detainees are kept together with convicted prisoners in many countries, often for many years and usually under much worse conditions than convicted prisoners. The percentage of pre-trial detainees among the total prison population is one of the best indicators for the well-functioning or malfunctioning of the administration of justice. If more than 50% of all detainees, and in some countries up to 80%,180 are in pre-trial detention, something is wrong. It usually means that criminal proceedings last far too long, that the detention of criminal suspects is the rule rather than the exception, and that release on bail is misunderstood by judges, prosecutors and prison staff as an incentive for corruption. It is also a sign that the function of sentencing human beings to imprisonment has shifted from judges to prosecutors and the police. In many countries, even the language used indicates that it is the police, together with the prosecutors, who in practice “sentence” a suspect to pre-trial detention, and many detainees do not even know whether they have already been convicted by a court. It simply does not matter as the judge, in the end, pronounces a sentence equivalent to the time already spent in pre-trial detention. In Nigeria, I recommended that more than 20.000 persons be immediately released as the time they had already spent in police custody and pre-trial detention had exceeded the maximum penalty possible in relation to the crime they had been suspected of.181 Such practices lead to a profound change in the function of pre-trial detention. In far too many countries, pre-trial detention is no longer a precautionary measure aimed at preventing the escape of highly dangerous persons suspected of having committed a serious crime, but in reality serves as a type of preliminary punishment for all criminal suspects who lack sufficient money to bribe corrupt police or prison officials, judges and prosecutors. This attitude might also explain the fact that in the majority of the prisons I visited, pre-trial detainees were not separated from convicted prisoners.182 236. As stressed in my report to the General Assembly, more than one million children are deprived of their liberty around the world. Children in detention are particularly vulnerable as they are in their “formative years”, making their time in detention highly influential on the rest of their lives.183 It is therefore of utmost importance that the deprivation of a child’s liberty always remains a last resort, that it is restricted to the shortest time possible, that children in detention are strictly separated from adults and treated with special care. Although these principles seem self-evident, in practice they are all too often violated. Rather than being subjected to preferential treatment, I found that 180 181 182 183 For relevant statistics, see King’s College London/International Centre for Prison Studies, World Pretrial/Remand Imprisonment List, 2008. Available at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/law/research/icps/downloads/WPTRIL.pdf. A/HRC/7/3/Add.4. A/HRC/7/3/Add.3, A/HRC/7/3/Add.4, A/HRC/7/3/Add.6, A/HRC/7/3/Add.5. A/64/215, 18 et seq. 63