CAT/C/MAR/CO/4 In order to bring prison conditions throughout Morocco into line with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners,3 the State party should continue its efforts to build new prison facilities and to renovate existing ones and should continue to increase its budget allocations for running the country’s prisons, particularly for food and medical care. In order to reduce overcrowding, which is largely due to the fact that half of all the people being held in Moroccan prisons have yet to be tried, the State party should amend its laws to permit the use of alternatives to pretrial detention in accordance with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures (the Tokyo Rules).4 A system could be devised for arranging bail and making more frequent use of non-custodial penalties in the case of less serious offences. Prison deaths 20. The Committee takes note of the detailed information provided on the number of deaths that have occurred in Moroccan prisons and the officially recorded causes of death. It nonetheless regrets the lack of information on the mechanisms in place for conducting systematic and independent investigations into the causes of prison deaths, notwithstanding the fact that suicides are routinely investigated (arts. 11, 12 and 16). The State party should promptly conduct a thorough, impartial investigation whenever a person dies in prison and should prosecute those responsible, if any, for the death. It should provide the Committee with information on all deaths occurring in prison as a result of acts of torture, ill-treatment or wilful negligence. The State party should also ensure that independent forensic doctors examine the corpse in each case and that their findings are admissible as evidence in criminal and civil trials. Prisoners on death row 21. The Committee takes note of the de facto moratorium on the enforcement of the death penalty that has existed since 1993. It also takes note of the bill under which the number of crimes punishable by the death penalty would be significantly reduced and under which such sentences would have to be made by unanimous decision. The Committee is concerned by the conditions under which prisoners are held on death row. These conditions in themselves could constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. This is particularly the case in view of the length of time that prisoners are held there and their uncertainty about their fate, especially given the absence of any prospect that their sentences will be commuted (arts. 2, 11 and 16). The Committee recommends that the State party consider ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights with a view to the abolition of the death penalty. In the meanwhile, the State party should maintain its de facto moratorium on the enforcement of the death penalty, ensure that its laws provide for the possibility of commuting death sentences and ensure that all death row prisoners are protected in accordance with the Convention. The State party should also ensure that all death row prisoners are treated humanely, and that, in particular, they are able to receive visits from their families and their attorneys. 3 4 GE.11-47997 Economic and Social Council resolution 663 C (XXIV) of 31 July 1957 and 2076 (LXII) of 13 May 1977. General Assembly resolution 45/110 of 14 December 1990. 9