3.2. the fd on the european supervision order Pre-trial detention and ill-treatment Detainees held in pre-trial detention face the most significant risk of torture and ill-treatment.206 They are at particular risk of being abused because the incentives and opportunities for torture and ill-treatment are most prevalent during the investigation phase. A number of other systemic factors contribute to this, inter alia, criminal justice systems centred on confessions, lack of access to legal assistance, people without the resources to defend themselves and the popularisation of a “tough on crime” approach to criminal justice. Van Kalmthout noted that the frustration of these preconditions through overcrowding is likely is to lead to ill treatment. Exacerbating these issues is the high percentage of foreigners in remand, that are refused bail due their inability to provide a local fixed address, and that they are deemed a flight risk. The UN General Comment reflecting upon Article 9 of the ICCPR noted that obligation on the judiciary to consider from the outset alternatives to detention. Indeed, in relation to pre-trial detention it indicated that detention in custody in those cases should be the “exception rather than the rule.”207 In cases where the defendant is a non-national that reason alone must not automatically equate a flight risk: “Courts must examine whether alternatives to pre-trial detention, such as bail, electronic bracelets or other conditions, would render detention unnecessary in the particular case. If the defendant is a foreigner, that fact must not be treated as sufficient to establish that the defendant may flee the jurisdiction. After an initial determination has been made that pre-trial detention is necessary, there should be periodic re-examination of whether it continues to be reasonable and necessary in the light of possible alternatives.”208 Indeed one judge during the conference questioned how to deal with the situation where there is no fixed address in terms of maintaining contact with suspects. In this respect it was in turn noted that in Ireland for example, the accused will often be asked to carry a mobile phone with them at all times so that the police could make contact as necessary. Other issues of concern include the particular hardships of those in pre-trial detention, which is evidenced through data that suggests that the suicide rate is two to three times higher among detainees in pre-trial detention than among those who are convicted and have been sentenced.209 206 See Open Society Foundations, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights, University of Bristol, Pre-trial Detention and Torture: Why Pre-trial Detainees Face the Greatest Risk. New York, 2001, p. 11. 207 UN General Comment no.35, Article 9 (Liberty and Security of person) CCPR/C/GC/35 at para 38. 208 Ibidem. 209 52 A.M. Van Kamlthout presentation at final conference in Vienna, 16th November 2016.