CAT/C/COL/CO/5 The State party should ensure that prison conditions are in line with international standards. In particular, the State party should: (a) Allocate, without delay, the resources needed to provide prisoners with proper medical and health care; (b) Adopt effective measures, as a matter of urgency, to reduce prison occupancy rates, primarily by making use of alternatives to deprivation of liberty in accordance with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures (The Tokyo Rules) and the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules). Solitary confinement 18. The Committee takes note with concern of reports indicating that inmates suffering from mental illnesses have been placed in isolation cells (special treatment units) and that placement in punishment cells has been used as a disciplinary measure in youth detention centres (arts. 11 and 16). The State party should: (a) Ensure that solitary confinement is used only as a last resort, for as brief a period as possible and under strict judicial oversight and controls; (b) Prohibit the solitary confinement of inmates with mental illnesses and minors in conflict with the law; (c) Establish a system for the supervision of the use of solitary confinement. Deaths of persons in custody 19. The Committee is concerned about the large number of deaths that have occurred while persons were being held in detention centres and finds it regrettable that it has not received information on the causes of death in these cases or on the findings of the investigations that have been carried out (arts. 2, 11 and 16). The State party should, without delay, undertake thorough, impartial investigations into all cases in which persons have died while in custody and, where appropriate, carry out autopsies. The State party should determine whether law enforcement or prison officials are in any way responsible for such deaths and, if so, punish the guilty parties and provide the victims’ family members with adequate redress. Inspection of detention centres 20. The Committee welcomes the establishment of the Prison Conditions Oversight Commission and the active presence maintained by the Office of the Ombudsman and the Office of the Counsel-General in correctional facilities, but it is concerned by reports indicating that the Ombudsman’s recommendations are not being duly acted upon. In addition, the Committee has observed that no fully independent agency is responsible for inspecting all places of detention, including police stations, youth detention centres and psychiatric hospitals (art. 2). The State party should ensure that all places of detention are subject to independent inspections on a regular basis; these inspections should incorporate the oversight activities carried out by non-governmental organizations. The Committee encourages the State party to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. 6 GE.15-08413