CAT/C/MEX/CO/7 (b) Ensure that pretrial detention is used as a measure of last resort and for the shortest possible period of time, using alternative measures whenever possible (see rule 13 of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (the Beijing Rules) and rules 1, 2, 17 and 18 of the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty; (c) Observe the prohibition on imposing solitary confinement and similar measures on minors (rule 67 of the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty and rule 45 (2) of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules)). Disciplinary practices 36. In accordance with articles 41 and 42 of the Federal Act on the Enforcement of Criminal Penalties, temporary solitary confinement as a disciplinary measure should be used as a last resort and for a strictly limited time, with a maximum duration of 15 consecutive days. However, the Committee is concerned at the recommendations issued by the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture and the National Human Rights Commission documenting both the imposition of such measures for as much as 30 days and their arbitrary application with no regard for established procedures (see recommendation M-02/2017 of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture, on criminal detention centres under the Government of Guerrero State, para. 23, and general recommendation No. 22 of the National Human Rights Commission, on solitary confinement in penitentiary centres in the Mexican Republic (2015), para. 46). Moreover, in 2016 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights noted that one of the most common punishments was solitary confinement in small cells and in deplorable conditions, for excessively long periods – even months – and restrictions on visits and calls to relatives (The Human Rights Situation in Mexico, OEA/Ser.L/V/II. 44/15, para. 337) (arts. 11 and 16). 37. The State party should: (a) Ensure that solitary confinement is used only in exceptional cases and as a last resort for the shortest possible time (no more than 15 consecutive days), and that it is subject to independent review and imposed only with the permission of the competent authority, in accordance with rules 43 to 46 of the Nelson Mandela Rules; (b) Ensure due process in the imposition of disciplinary sanctions (see rule 41 of the Nelson Mandela Rules). Disciplinary sanctions and restrictive measures may not include the prohibition of family contact (rule 43 (3) of the Nelson Mandela Rules); (c) Ensure that the general living conditions referred to in that international instrument, including those related to light, ventilation, temperature, sanitation, nutrition and drinking water, among others, are provided for all prisoners without exception (rule 42 of the Nelson Mandela Rules). Administrative segregation 38. With regard to persons deprived of their liberty in administrative segregation regimes under the provisions of article 18 of the Constitution concerning preventive detention and the enforcement of sentences for offences of organized crime, the Committee is concerned both about the protracted nature of this regime, under which the prisoners are in their cells for up to 23 hours a day, and about the severe constraints that it imposes on social relationships with other prisoners and contact with the outside world. The Committee is also concerned at reports that a number of federal prisons and prisons of the federative entities have established prison regimes in which prisoners remain in their cells for most of the day in conditions of detention comparable to prolonged solitary confinement (arts. 11 and 16). 39. The State party should ensure that administrative segregation is used only as a precautionary measure, and for a limited time, in line with international standards such as the Nelson Mandela Rules. GE.19-12617 11