CAT/OP/PAN/1 IV. Subcommittee’s comments on the places visited A. Overcrowding and infrastructure situation 55. According to data as of June 2017 provided by the Directorate General of the Prison System, occupation rates differed from one detention facility to another. Although there was no overcrowding in some, most were overcrowded to one degree or another, with the prison in David operating at 266 per cent of its capacity. 56. The Subcommittee found that the conditions in most of the detention facilities it visited were appalling. In a number of cell blocks in the La Joya and La Joyita prisons in Panama City and the Nueva Esperanza prison in Colón, the Subcommittee observed subhuman living conditions resulting not only from overcrowding but also from such problems as dampness, a lack of ventilation, a total lack of hygiene, the accumulation of several weeks’ worth of refuse and improperly installed electric wiring that was highly dangerous and posed a considerable fire hazard. The Subcommittee found that a significant number of prisoners sleep on the floor without mattresses or in improvised hammocks. Cell block 17 at La Joyita was so overcrowded that the Subcommittee found persons deprived of their liberty sleeping under a table in the block’s common area. Those conditions as a whole amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. 57. Conditions at the Nueva Esperanza prison in Colón are particularly troubling. The Subcommittee noted that, in terms of hygiene, health care, food and infrastructure, this prison does not meet minimum standards of habitability. 58. The Subcommittee recommends that urgent measures be taken to improve the unacceptable conditions in the La Joya and La Joyita prisons. The Subcommittee also urges the State party to expedite the construction of a new prison in Colón and to close the Nueva Esperanza prison as soon as possible. 59. In a night-time visit to the police substation in El Chorrillo, the Subcommittee found that there was no natural or electric light in the cells, which had sheet-metal roofs, and that the heat was intense, making it likely that during the day the place was uninhabitable. At the Calidonia substation in the eighth metropolitan police precinct east, the Subcommittee noted that conditions in the holding cell, where there were seven detainees, did not attain the threshold of acceptability. The only available bathroom, which was flooded and unusable, was far from the cells, forcing the persons deprived of their liberty to relieve themselves in the cell itself, in which the Subcommittee observed large buckets full of urine and bags of excrement. The Subcommittee noted from the substation’s records that on previous days as many as 21 people had been held at the same time in that cell. The Subcommittee also noted that the operational and sanitary conditions of the toilet facilities for police personnel were very poor. 60. The Subcommittee also recommends that the conditions of detention at the police substation in El Chorrillo be improved. 61. The Subcommittee recommends the immediate closure of the Calidonia police substation, as the appalling conditions there affect both detainees and the police, who should be treated with the respect they deserve as human beings. 62. The Subcommittee found that a total of 50 men had been deprived of their liberty, some for months, in very small cells under the Criminal Investigation Directorate’s system of provisional detention (men’s area). The prison conditions were grossly inadequate, as there were no windows, ventilation or light (although in the corridor there was electric light 24 hours a day), and the electrical wiring was improperly installed and very dangerous. The persons deprived of their liberty had a single bathroom, which was flooded and in terrible condition; they had no beds, and because of the overcrowding some slept in the corridor. The Subcommittee was surprised that the facility, which was meant for persons in provisional detention, held persons who had been detained for long periods of time. The detainees stated that they could not go out to the courtyard for air. Although the number of women was much smaller (there were six female detainees at the time of the visit), the GE.18-12640 9