General Report of the CPT, 2011-2012 The report on the 2011 visit, published on 3 October 2012, makes clear that much remains to be done to improve the situation of life-sentenced prisoners (see also paragraph 58 below). 6. The ad hoc visit to Belgium in April 2012 focussed on prison overcrowding and the consequences of industrial action by prison staff. These two often interrelated questions had already been addressed during previous visits to Belgium and have given rise to a series of recommendations. The 2012 visit was triggered on the one hand by reports which the CPT had recently received of an alarming level of overcrowding at Forest Prison (Brussels) and on the other hand by industrial action during the first half of April by staff of that establishment and of other prisons, in particular at Andenne. In addition to visiting Andenne and Forest Prisons, the CPT’s delegation held extensive talks about the underlying issues with the Belgian authorities at the federal, regional and municipal levels. The visit also provided an opportunity to examine the implementation of recently-enacted legislation ( the “Salduz Act”), which makes provision for the first time in Belgium for a right of access to a lawyer during police custody. 7. Prison-related issues were also at the centre of the ad hoc visit to Bulgaria in May 2012. The delegation examined steps taken to improve the treatment and conditions of detention of prisoners in the light of recommendations made after previous visits, with particular emphasis on the situation at Burgas and Varna Prisons. The CPT had recently received reports of very poor conditions of detention at Burgas Prison, an establishment last visited by the Committee in 2002. As regards Varna Prison, it had been the subject of several recommendations in the report on the CPT’s 2010 visit, which was published on 15 March 2012 (see also paragraph 62 below), but reports subsequently received pointed to ever-worsening conditions at the establishment. 8. The main objective of the September 2011 ad hoc visit to Malta was to examine the current situation in the prison system, having regard to the recommendations made after the CPT’s periodic visit in 2008. For this purpose, the Committee’s delegation visited Corradino Correctional Facility. Conditions in the Lyster and Safi Barracks Detention Centres for foreigners were also reviewed, as was the situation of mentally ill prisoners and immigration detainees held at Mount Carmel Psychiatric Hospital. In addition, the delegation held consultations with the Maltese authorities on the right of access to a lawyer during police custody. 9. During the ad hoc visit to Spain in June 2012, the CPT’s delegation examined the treatment and conditions of detention of persons held in Barcelona Prison for Men (“La Modelo”). Built at the very beginning of the 20th century, Modelo Prison is the main pre-trial establishment in Catalonia. With an official capacity of 1,100, the establishment has long suffered from high levels of overcrowding, and it has been the subject of numerous recommendations covering a variety of issues in reports on previous CPT visits. 8