CAT/OP/TGO/1 United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, rather than building new prisons. 28. The visiting arrangements vary from one detention centre to another in terms of schedules and conditions. There are no standard rules in this area. Most of the prisons, including in Lomé and Notsé, impose an entry fee, which prevents the poorest families from visiting their relatives. 29. The Subcommittee urges the Togolese authorities to respect the fundamental right of prisoners to communicate with their families and to receive visits, 1 especially from family members, without the payment of fees. Prison overcrowding 30. Prison overcrowding is a major concern and affects the overall conditions of detention. The overcrowding rate was as high as 250 per cent in Notsé, 300 per cent in Lomé and 400 per cent in Atakpamé. The delegation witnessed the situation of certain prisoners in Lomé, Notsé and Tsévié, for example, who had a sleeping space measuring at most 0.30 m2 per person. In such circumstances, many must sit or stand all night and clearly cannot sleep. In other prisons, the prisoners sleep directly on the floor or at best on simple mats. This situation is linked with the exceedingly high number of persons held in pretrial detention, which sometimes goes on for several years for minor offences. The Subcommittee considers that such a degree of overcrowding is tantamount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, or even a form of torture, when it is lasting and accompanied by the absence of the minimum acceptable physical conditions, and takes place with the full knowledge of the State authorities. 31. The overcrowding is all the more intolerable as all the prisons visited contained both shockingly overcrowded cells and others of the same size with far fewer inmates, the latter type being available in return for a certain sum paid to the yard chief or an in-house committee. There are also large spaces reserved for single individuals on the basis of their political profiles. The placement of detainees in cells where conditions are less appalling is therefore not decided on the basis of objective, official criteria. The overcrowding and the arbitrary nature of cell assignments increases tensions between prisoners as well as between prisoners and prison staff. 32. The Subcommittee recommends that the State party urgently take the following system-wide measures to rapidly redress the significant problem of prison overcrowding: (a) Using pretrial detention only in cases of the most serious offences and routinely making use of alternatives to deprivation of liberty in other cases, in accordance with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures (Tokyo Rules); (b) Monitoring by the courts of persons in pretrial detention to ensure that they are not held for longer than is legally permissible. In this regard, the Subcommittee recommends an immediate review of all cases of persons held in pretrial detention. The cases of convicted persons must also be monitored by the courts on an ongoing basis to ensure compliance with the rules for the duration of deprivation of liberty; (c) Immediately releasing anyone who has been in pretrial detention for a period equal to or greater than the maximum possible prison sentence for the offence that led to the person’s detention. 1 6 Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, principle 19; United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, rules 58, 60 and 61. GE.17-06858