A/HRC/28/68 He also noted that States cannot invoke provisions of domestic law to justify violations of the prohibition of corporal punishment. 46. Children are subjected to a range of adult punishments in detention, including physical and manual restraints, routine humiliation and degrading searches, and the indiscriminate use of mace, pepper spray and other harmful chemicals. During country visits, the Special Rapporteur has observed the use of psychotropic drugs for children in detention in order to maintain security in juvenile detention facilities (see A/HRC/22/53/Add.3, para. 52). In some instances, such forms of punishment (especially restraints) are adopted as a first resort rather than being used only in exceptional cases. 47. A large number of children deprived of their liberty show signs of mental health problems, or mental illnesses or psychological disorders, which are often exacerbated during their detention. Children in detention are prone to self-harm, including suicide, because of depression. In many instances, children who suffer from mental health problems have no access to mental health screening within the first hours of admission to a detention centre and do not receive adequate treatment, including psychosocial counselling during detention. Moreover, children showing signs of mental health problems are often held together with children who do not show such signs. 48. Girls deprived of their liberty are at a heightened risk of sexual violence, sexual exploitation and underage pregnancies while in detention. The risk of sexual abuse is greater when male guards supervise girls in detention. Girls deprived of their liberty have different needs not only to those of adults but also of boys. Girls in detention are often not only children but also carers, either as mothers or as siblings, and have specific health, hygiene and sanitary needs. Across the globe, girls are rarely kept separately from women in pretrial and post-conviction settings (see A/HRC/16/52/Add.3, para. 54). Similarly, the Special Rapporteur notes that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex children are at a heightened risk. 49. Children deprived of their liberty are often not allowed to maintain regular contact with their families and friends, because either they are denied contact as a form of punishment or are placed in facilities located far away from their homes and families. A lack of vocational, educational and recreational activities for children deprived of their liberty creates situations of risk of abuse and ill-treatment. When children spend most of their time confined in their cells, they may experience a lack of motivation and even depression, which in turn can leads to incidents of abuse and violence between children or with staff members. The Special Rapporteur wishes to point out that, while lack of activities is detrimental for any prisoner, it is especially harmful for children, who have a particular need for physical activity and intellectual stimulation. This is also true for children detained with their mothers in prison. During country visits, the Special Rapporteur has observed that women’s section of prisons often show inadequate space for women with children and a lack of well-equipped recreation areas for children (see A/HRC/22/53/Add.2, para. 58). 2. Children in institutions 50. The State’s obligation to prevent torture applies not only to public officials, such as law enforcement agents, but also to medical doctors, health-care professionals and social workers, including those working in private hospitals, other institutions and detention centres (A/63/175, para. 51 and A/HRC/22/53, paras. 23-26). 51. The Special Rapporteur has previously recognized that ill-treatment may occur in a diverse range of settings, even where the purpose or intention of the State’s action or inaction was not to degrade, humiliate or punish the child. He notes that most instances of ill-treatment of children deprived of their liberty outside of the criminal justice system, such as children in administrative immigration detention or institutional settings, involve acts of 10