A/62/221 expertise, to promote forensic capacity-building, including training where necessary, particularly in countries without sufficient expertise in forensic science and related fields. IV. Avoiding the deprivation of liberty as a means of preventing torture 55. The Special Rapporteur notes from his country visit experiences that one of the most commonly observed obstacles to the respect of human dignity and to the prohibition of torture and other forms of ill-treatment is overcrowding in places of detention. Overcrowding strains existing infrastructure, staffing, services and resources, which in turn leads to a decline in the standards of detention: failure to separate vulnerable groups, such as children, women, and ill prisoners, due to a lack of space; and insufficient beds, food, water, washing facilities, ventilation, sanitary conditions, recreational, educational or vocational opportunities, staffing to ensure discipline and security of the detainees, medicines, level of health care, etc. In this context, the Special Rapporteur recalls the jurisprudence of several international and regional human rights mechanisms, which has found that poor conditions of detention can amount to inhuman and degrading treatment. 10 56. It is often explained by the responsible authorities that minimum standards of detention are not fulfilled because of a lack of financial resources for, among other things, refurbishment of detention facilities, purchase of basic supplies, provision of food and medical treatment and recruitment of staff, let alone for payment of staff salaries. 57. The Special Rapporteur recalls that, as soon as a State deprives someone of his or her liberty, it has the obligation to ensure full respect of all other human rights of that individual, and he refers to the detailed discussion on the guarantees for individuals deprived of their liberty contained in an earlier report (see E/CN.4/2004/56, paras. 27-49). 58. The Special Rapporteur notes that key factors to overcrowding are, generally, the almost automatic recourse to pretrial detention of suspects, even for non-violent offenders or for minor offences, despite the availability of non-custodial measures such as bail, house arrest, confiscation of travel document and recognizance; moreover, in many countries criminal laws focus on lengthy prison terms as the only __________________ 10 12 See, for example, the following decisions of the Human Rights Committee: Deidrick v. Jamaica, communication No. 619/1995, Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-third Session, Supplement No. 40 (A/53/40), vol. II, annex XI, sect. L; Brown v. Jamaica, communication No. 775/1997, ibid., Fifty-fourth Session, Supplement No. 40 (A/54/40), vol. II, annex XI, sect. GG; Larrosa Bequio v. Uruguay, communication No. 88/1981, ibid., Thirty-eighth Session, Supplement No. 40 (A/38/40), annex XVI. See also the following concluding observations and discussions of the Committee against Torture: Official Records of the General Assembly, Fiftyfirst Session, Supplement No. 44 (A/51/44), para. 63 (Hong Kong); ibid., Fifty-sixth Session, Supplement No. 44 (A/56/44) (Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Kazakhstan); ibid., Fifty-ninth Session, Supplement No. 44 (A/59/44) (Cameroon); ibid., Sixtieth Session, Supplement No. 44 (A/60/44) (Greece); CAT/C/NPL/CO/2 (Nepal); CAT/C/SR.264 (Russian Federation); CAT/C/SR.418 (Paraguay); CAT/C/SR.471 (Brazil). See further the following judgements of the European Court of Human Rights: Valasinas v. Lithuania (2001), Kalashnikov v. Russia (2002), Mayzit v. Russia (2005), Novoselov v. Russia (2005), Khudoyorov v. Russia (2005), Ostrovar v. Moldova (2005). 07-45686