A/HRC/46/26/Add.1 45. During his visit to Maafushi prison, the Special Rapporteur regrets to report that he and his team inspected a new purpose-built facility for carrying out death sentences by hanging, reportedly constructed under the previous Government. The facility is fully equipped with three waiting cells, gallows on the upper floor and, on the ground floor, an adjacent room with three mobile stretchers, facilities for the washing of the dead bodies, and a dedicated funeral transportation vehicle. The existence of that facility is not compatible with the commitment of Maldives to its longstanding moratorium on the death penalty. VII. Conditions of detention A. Overcrowding and access to fresh air 46. As a result of both a general practice of overincarceration and significant infrastructural limitations, places of deprivation of liberty throughout the country are significantly overcrowded, often with occupancy rates ranging from 150 to 190 per cent of the actual capacity. Between 2013 and 2019, the number of persons deprived of their liberty in prisons nationwide rose exponentially, from 1,040 to 1,785. While the sharp increase in incarceration rates has led to significant overcrowding and deterioration of conditions of detention, some prisons are more adversely affected than others, Malé prison being the worst affected by overcrowding. 47. Overcrowding naturally generates a very high level of stress for inmates and tension between them and the prison staff. It significantly increases the risk and the actual occurrence of violence between inmates and staff. 48. The effects of overcrowding on the detainees are exacerbated by extremely restricted or even a complete lack of access to the outdoors, fresh air and physical activity. Inmates are locked up in cramped, hot, humid and poorly ventilated cells. They have no access to educational, recreational, vocational, physical or intellectual activity. In several facilities, inmates do not have their own bed or mattress, and sleep either on thin mats or directly on the hard floor (cement or tiles). In the prisons visited, respect of even the most basic international minimum norms regarding the minimum area of living space per inmate and their access to fresh air and physical exercise, which must be at least one hour per day, is exceptional. 49. The official capacity of prisons and detention centres appears to be calculated on the basis of available beds rather than available space per inmate, which results in available surface areas as small as 1 m² or less per inmate, clearly falling short of the universally recommended minimum specifications of 3.4 m 2 per inmate in shared accommodation and 5.4 m2 in single cells.2 In Maafushi prison, the Special Rapporteur saw a number of cells where four or five prisoners shared two beds, and cells with inadequate space, natural light, sleeping and sanitary facilities. 50. The Special Rapporteur considers that the conditions of detention he witnessed amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and, where intentionally and purposefully inflicted, may even amount to torture. B. Access to medical care 51. Although every prison under the authority of the Maldives Correctional Service reportedly employs at least one medical doctor and two nurses, most prisoners requiring specialized medical attention have to be transferred to Malé. The Special Rapporteur regrets to report that access to medical care is unnecessarily delayed due to a lack of adequate facilities, such as dental care, and the alleged negligence of prison and medical staff. 2 8 International Committee of the Red Cross, Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Habitat in Prisons: Supplementary Guidance (Geneva, 2013), p. 33.