A/HRC/34/54/Add.1 59. Furthermore, with the exception of a few purpose-built penitentiaries, such as the central prison in Nouakchott and the detention centre in Aleg, most inmates in Mauritania are held in normal buildings and residential houses that function as detention centres. These buildings have inadequate facilities, with inmates sleeping on floors, and makeshift lavatories, sanitary facilities and kitchens (if there are any at all); moreover, security cannot adequately be provided for, which makes the conditions often inhumane. 3. Lack of adequate medical care 60. In all penitentiaries visited, access to health care was inadequate and dental and psychiatric support were completely absent. In principle, medical care is provided free of charge to all inmates. Some of the larger or newer facilities have infirmaries, with medical staff on duty or regularly visiting. Other detention centres do not have infirmaries but doctors or nurses may visit once a week for a limited time or can be called in. If needed, inmates can be transported to the nearest hospital for care. 61. In reality, however, there are few generalist medical practitioners and no psychiatric specialists or dentists in most prisons. The Special Rapporteur observed several detainees with suspected infectious and contagious diseases needing medical attention who did not receive any. They continued to live among the general prison population creating the risk of contagion to others. 62. The small number of penitentiary medical staff who exist have no specialized training in providing care in prisons or medical forensic expertise. Infirmaries, if they exist, are primitive, lack basic medical equipment and are insufficiently stocked with appropriate medicines, which means that detainees often have to rely on their families for the provision of drugs. Any transport to a hospital is at the discretion of the guards, who are not trained to assess whether an inmate requires medical attention. 63. The Special Rapporteur also observed the absence of any general medical, physical and analytical health examination upon admission or transfer into a detention centre, and of regular screening of all detainees. 4. Non-separation of detainees 64. In all detention centres visited, large or small, convicted and pretrial detainees were held together indiscriminately. Typically, this included inmates sentenced to the death penalty. A notable exception was the new facility in Aleg, where inmates on death row were held in a separate wing. In the central prison in Nouakchott an attempt was made to hold individuals convicted on terrorism-related charges (many of whom had been sentenced to death) in separate cell blocks, which were, however, usually open during the day, leaving detainees free to mingle with each other. 65. Similarly, in the central prison boys are effectively mixed with the general adult prison population despite being held in a separate wing. In several other facilities visited in the interior of the country, boys appeared to be held indiscriminately with the adult male prison population. 66. The Special Rapporteur did not encounter women or girls being detained with men, despite the fact that separate facilities for women and girls do not exist in the interior of the country. In discussions with the authorities, the Special Rapporteur was assured that, once arrested, women and girls were immediately transported to the appropriate detention centre in Nouakchott should their continued detention appear necessary. He was informed, however, that several women were being held in a separate wing in a male detention facility in Nouadhibou. Furthermore, in the detention centre for women in Nouakchott, the Special Rapporteur encountered girls who were being held with the adult female population. 12