A/HRC/19/61/Add.2 conducted once every 10 to 15 days. In addition, most correctional facilities are located in the Chui region, while other regions do not have custodial institutions. In practice, owing to the shortage of pretrial detention facilities and the need for prolonged investigations, temporary facilities are used as pretrial ones. 62. In temporary detention facilities, access to and the length of family visits are determined by investigating officers on a case-by-case basis, which is an incentive for bribery and arbitrariness. The Special Rapporteur observed that most pretrial detainees in temporary detention facilities were either not aware of their right to receive visits from their families or thought that they were not entitled to it during pretrial detention. 63. There is no permanent medical presence in temporary detention facilities, and health emergencies are handled by simply calling an ambulance. While existing medical personnel in pretrial detention facilities employed by the Ministry of the Interior and the penitentiary administration perform check-ups upon arrival, they clearly lack independence, because they are accountable to the prison administration. If a medical worker observes bodily injuries tending to show evidence of torture, in the absence of a complaint, his or her report will rarely provide a description of injuries. In addition, medical personnel lack specific training in assessing and documenting cases of torture and ill-treatment. 64. With the caveat in mind that, in some temporary detention facilities visited, the administration placed undue pressure on inmates and pressured them “to tell the truth”, the Special Rapporteur did not receive complaints of mistreatment by facility employees. Invariably, inmates who reported having been tortured stated that they had been ill-treated before they arrived at the detention facility. They did, nevertheless, complain about general conditions at their place of detention, access to and length of family visits, lack of adequate food and access to drinking water, length of detention in the facility and the absence of any information about their fate. Several detainees indicated that they had had no contact with their relatives since detention. The almost total denial of contact with the outside world, often for prolonged periods, clearly contradicts the principle of the presumption of innocence and puts disproportionate psychological pressure on suspects. Outside temporary facilities, the Special Rapporteur heard testimonies about reprisals by the administration of the facility against inmates filing a complaint. 65. Conditions in pretrial detention facilities and the colony visited were relatively bearable, although the infrastructure was in a deplorable state. All four facilities visited had modestly equipped medical units, but there was an acute shortage of medical personnel, especially dentists and gynaecologists, and no psychiatric assistance. Family visits were only authorized on a case-by-case basis by the investigator. Meals (of poor nutritional value) were served three times a day. 66. In all facilities visited, the administration acknowledged the appalling conditions, old buildings and low budgetary allocations. Some heads of temporary and pretrial detention facilities are overly reliant on international help and funding to maintain minimum detention conditions and to install closed-circuit cameras in interrogation rooms and in common areas of the facilities (in Djalal-Abad province). Some detention facilities currently run harm-reduction programmes for drug users, including substitution medication and needle exchange. 67. The police stations visited – in poor condition but well maintained – did not have holding cells. 2. Women in detention 68. Women are separated from men and juveniles are, with some exceptions, held separate from adults. For women in detention, conditions are generally better than in men’s cells. In only one pretrial facility were there female guards as required by international 16