CAT/OP/NZL/1 and prisoners, promote a positive prison culture communication between staff and detainees. and include improved 37. The Subcommittee is particularly concerned that extended lock-downs are often used as a form of collective punishment for all those in a block or unit where there has been an incident, regardless of their involvement in the alleged offence. 38. The Subcommittee recommends that the State party ensure that only those responsible for incidents in prisons are penalized as a result of them. Voluntary segregation 39. The Subcommittee noted with concern the high number of persons held in management units in voluntary segregation. While acknowledging that this is intended to protect prisoners at risk, the Subcommittee remains concerned that they were being held in conditions similar to those reserved for disciplinary confinement. It is also concerning that so many consider themselves to be at risk in more open settings within prisons. Such measures, especially if extensively prolonged, may prejudice vulnerable inmates whose behaviour does not merit harsher material conditions or stricter security measures. The Subcommittee further observed that when there was only one prisoner of a given security category in voluntary segregation within the management unit, they were, de facto, being held in semi-permanent solitary confinement. 40. The Subcommittee recommends that the State party intensify its efforts to tackle violence between prisoners by addressing its causes, including problems arising from gang cultures, the lack of purposeful activities, substance abuse and restricted out-of-cell time, as well as through staff training. The State party should ensure that the protection of vulnerable detainees is not achieved at the cost of their own detention conditions. 41. Further recommendations concerning police custody and the penitentiary system are set out in section IV C below. C. Fundamental safeguards Information on the rights of accused or detained persons 42. The domestic law of the State party contains a litany of safeguards for arrested or detained persons, which include, inter alia, the right to be informed at the time of their arrest or detention of their rights and of the reasons for their arrest or detention. 6 The Subcommittee learned from its interviews that the police do seek to do so, although some interviewees claimed they had not been informed about their rights. The Subcommittee did not see information on the rights of arrested persons displayed at police stations, with the exception of Wellington central and Porirua police stations, where there were posters setting out the rights of persons detained by the police and about the Independent Police Conduct Authority, but in positions where they could not be easily read before a person had been processed and assigned a cell (see also paras. 72 and 73 below). In regard to prisons, the Subcommittee notes that information on the rights and duties of young persons was not always readily available in the central areas of the unit blocks or in cells. 43. The Subcommittee recommends that the State party ensure that the police inform arrested or detained persons of the reasons and their rights at the time of their arrest or detention. The State party should ensure that information on the rights of persons deprived of their liberty is displayed at police stations in a position where it 6 10 See, for example, Bill of Rights Act, art. 23.