A/67/44 The State party should ensure the implementation of Decree No. 2009-970 of 14 July 2009 regulating legal assistance, strengthen its system for providing persons taken into custody with free legal assistance and facilitate access by detainees to their lawyers and family members. The State party should also consider amending its Code of Criminal Procedure in order to reduce the duration of pretrial detention and to put rigorous safeguards in place to prevent it from being abused. The Committee invites the State party to strengthen its locally based justice system to the extent possible in order to preclude logistical problems posed by the need for persons standing trial and criminal investigation officers to travel considerable distances. Living conditions in and systematic monitoring of places of detention (10) While taking note of the information provided by the State party on the construction of four new prisons, the Committee remains concerned about the poor living conditions in prisons and, in particular, the failure to separate different categories of inmates, malnutrition, the lack of medical care which has led to the death of some inmates, and the inhuman conditions in punishment cells. The Committee also remains concerned about prison overcrowding; although the Constitution states that pretrial detention is an exceptional measure, more than half of the people held in prison have not yet been brought to trial. The Committee is particularly concerned about reports of the humiliating treatment of prisoners, of rape and of instances in which food is provided in exchange for the performance of sexual acts (arts. 2, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 16). The State party should: (a) Ensure that prison conditions are in line with the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, including in the cramped punishment cells, so that the conditions of solitary confinement in such cells are in compliance with international standards; (b) Separate the categories of detainees, ensuring that remand prisoners are separated from convicts and that minors are separated from adults; (c) Take into consideration the particular problems faced by women prisoners and the need to address those problems in accordance with the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules), adopted by the General Assembly on 21 December 2010; (d) Ensure that detainees have access to decent food and medical care; (e) Expedite the cases of persons held in pretrial detention, if necessary by calling the responsible officials to account; (f) Use non-custodial penalties to reduce overcrowding in accordance with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures (the Tokyo Rules), adopted by the General Assembly on 14 December 1990; (g) Investigate allegations of the humiliating treatment of prisoners, rape and other sexually motivated acts of violence and take steps, as a matter of urgency, to punish the perpetrators of such acts. The Committee reminds the State party that it is under an obligation to conduct an investigation ex officio, without a victim’s prior complaint, whenever there are reasonable grounds for believing that an act of torture has been committed; (h) Set up a system for monitoring places of detention on a regular basis with a view to improving conditions in those facilities. The State party should provide funding for the Prison Oversight Commission and cooperate more closely with NGOs GE.12-44492 57