A/HRC/7/3/Add.6 page 23 84. During the Special Rapporteur’s visit to various police stations, he observed that detainees are locked up in basic cells, sleep on the concrete floor and are often without natural light and sufficient ventilation. While he is not concerned about such conditions for criminal suspects held in police custody for up to 24 hours, these conditions become inhuman for suspects held in these cells under detention orders pursuant to the Emergency Regulations for periods of several months up to one year. This applies both for smaller police stations, such as at Mount Lavinia, and especially for the headquarters of CID and TID in Colombo, where detainees are kept in rooms used as offices during the daytime, and forced to sleep on desks in some cases. 85. The Special Rapporteur welcomes recent information from the Government that TID has secured a new detention facility, which it will occupy in the second quarter of 2008, and has canvassed the assistance of the ICRC with regard to specifying minimum standards relating to space, ventilation and light for detainees in the new facility. Women in detention 86. The Special Rapporteur found the detention facilities in the Female Ward of the New Magazine Prison in general to be more adequate than the male detention facilities in Colombo. However, the female detainees are also living in overcrowded conditions and some of the women reported fights between the prisoners without proper intervention by the prison guards. The Special Rapporteur is pleased that the strict division of male and female detainees in prisons is in general observed and that female prisoners are guarded by female prison personnel. Children in detention 87. In the TID facilities in Colombo the Special Rapporteur met eight children (four girls and four boys) who were being held on account of being child soldiers for the LTTE. He strongly condemns the recruitment of children in the conflict, be it for fighting or other forms of servicing the armed groups. On the other hand, he also deems prolonged detention of minors in counter-terrorism detention facilities deeply worrying. The death penalty 88. The death penalty is foreseen by article 52 of the Penal Code. Murder is punishable by death (art. 296). No death sentence has been carried out in Sri Lanka since 1977. However, the High Court has, for example, sentenced five police officers guilty of raping and murdering a Tamil schoolgirl, to death sentences in 1998. 89. While the Special Rapporteur is encouraged by the policy of Sri Lanka not to carry out death sentences over the last 30 years, he observes that courts continue to sentence persons to death. This leads to a considerable number of condemned prisoners living for many years under the strict conditions of death row.