E/CN.4/2001/66/Add.1 page 15 53. Important efforts had also been made to improve the conditions of detention, such as the removal of metal blinds. A complete renovation of the penitentiary system is said to be planned over the next 40 years. The Deputy Minister indicated the necessity of obtaining international assistance to carry out a programme aimed at bringing the Azerbaijani penitentiary system up to international standards. According to the Minister, one of the main problems that his office was currently facing was the large number of prisoners with tuberculosis; an estimated population of 2,000 persons with TB who are currently detained have to be secluded from the others in order to prevent the spread of the disease. A mixed-regime institution was recently built next to a hospital in order to group TB patients together. An International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)/World Health Organization (WHO) programme was said by the authorities to be currently under implementation. 54. A new Corrections Code had also been recently presented to the Parliament after having been submitted to experts of the Council of Europe for comments. A special committee was created within the Ministry of Justice in order to deal with prisoners’ complaints. A guide for convicts explaining the rights and duties of prisoners has been published and is distributed to all convicts. 55. On 10 May, the Special Rapporteur visited Gobustan prison which is located 60 km outside Baku. There was no problem of overcrowding since the actual population was 484 while the official capacity is 620. In particular, the Special Rapporteur visited the wings housing lifers. The conditions in which they were detained seemed to meet international standards and they did not have any particular complaints to express. The lifers interviewed by the Special Rapporteur were not all aware that their death sentences had been commuted to a life sentence. Furthermore, even if they knew, none had been informed that, as indicated by the Deputy Minister of Justice, according to the new legislation the maximum period of time to be spent in detention is 20 years. The Deputy Minister reassured the Special Rapporteur that a note would be circulated in order to inform all lifers of the new rules. Regarding the conditions of detention of the lifers, the Deputy Minister of Justice informed the Special Rapporteur of his intention to add to all cells holding lifers a private promenade area, as well as a proper separate bathroom. But no recreational or educational activities were envisaged since it was said not to be provided for in the Corrections Code. 56. In one of the punishment cells of Gobustan prison, the Special Rapporteur met two prisoners who were said to have been recently transferred to Gobustan and who consequently were held in quarantine. According to the prison rules, detainees are kept in quarantine upon arrival until the results of the initial medical check-up are obtained. They had been held in this very basic and dirty cell for 12 and 5 days, respectively. Both were showing what appeared to the Special Rapporteur to be signs of TB and had obviously not received any hygienic attention. They were allegedly also not receiving any specific medical treatment although the governor of the prison said that they had been seen by the prison doctor. Regarding the first detainee, no record of any medical check-up upon arrival could be found in either the registry book or his personal file. Regarding the second detainee, a medical certificate indicating chronic bronchitis and asthma, and presumably TB, as well as instructions to send him for X-rays and to a medical unit, was found in his personal file. Nothing had nevertheless been done. The Deputy Minister assured the Special Rapporteur that the two prisoners would receive immediate and appropriate medical attention.