qualifed staf to provide them with the necessary assistance. In most of the prisons visited, material conditions of detention were on the whole adequate. However, some of the cells at Nitra Prison were in a very poor state of repair and their size was clearly insufcient for the number of inmates they could hold (e.g. up to six inmates in a cell of some 11 m²). Report and response published in November 2014, CPT/Inf (2014) 29 and CPT/Inf (2014) 30 Report on the periodic visit to Ukraine in October 2013 (torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement ofcials, impunity, safeguards against ill-treatment, treatment of prisoners, conditions of detention in prisons, reprisals) 91. The main objective of the visit, which took place in the autumn of 2013 (prior to the beginning of the “Maidan” events and the government change which ensued) was to re-examine the situation of persons held by law enforcement ofcials as well as that of remand prisoners, in particular in the light of the provisions of the new Code of Criminal Procedure which entered into force in November 2012. For this purpose, the delegation paid visits to a number of police and penitentiary establishments in Kyiv, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Dnipropetrovsk Region, Odessa Region and Vinnytsia Region. The treatment of sentenced prisoners at Correctional Colony No. 81 in Stryzhavka (Vinnytsia Region) was also reviewed. Further, the delegation carried out a frst-time visit to Prison No. 3 in Krivyi Rih (Dnipropetrovsk Region), which held various categories of inmate, including remand prisoners. 92. As regards the police, the CPT’s delegation found that the new Code of Criminal Procedure, combined with the new free legal aid system, had begun to show potential to combat the phenomenon of ill-treatment by law enforcement ofcials. The delegation’s fndings clearly indicated that persons apprehended by police ofcers after the entry into force of the new Code ran a lower risk of being ill-treated than those who had been detained prior to that date. However, that risk remained high for detained persons who were not co-operative in the eyes of law enforcement ofcials and/ or, in the regions in particular, refused to pay bribes. It also appeared that persons held by law enforcement ofcials outside the capital were even more likely to be subjected to severe ill-treatment or even torture. The CPT has stressed that combating the phenomenon of ill-treatment should be more than ever a top priority for the Ukrainian authorities, which should build upon their initial, limited but encouraging results to implement all the Committee’s relevant recommendations and reduce the gap between the legal framework and practice. In particular, the authorities should drive change from the highest level and develop an ethical culture among police ofcers; and to ensure better identifcation of law enforcement ofcials; review limits and improve training on the use of physical force and “special means”; reduce reliance on confessional evidence and improve interviewing standards; combat unrecorded detentions; guarantee an efective right of notifcation of custody, improve the practical operation of the right of access to a lawyer and guarantee an efective right to be examined by a doctor. 93. Concerning prisons, a marked improvement was noted by the CPT in Publication highlights ► Page 45