CAT/OP/PAN/1 99. The Subcommittee reminds the State party of the principle of the best interests of the child and rule 58 of the Bangkok Rules, on pretrial and sentencing alternatives for women. 100. The Subcommittee recommends that the State party develop the infrastructure necessary for enabling mothers to remain with their children and to breastfeed them. It also recommends that an effective system be instituted for protecting the minor children of imprisoned women. Criminal Investigation Directorate 101. The Subcommittee visited the women’s cell at the Criminal Investigation Directorate. At the time of the visit, there were six women in a cell of approximately 7 m 2 with no natural light or ventilation (a few days earlier, according to information received by the Subcommittee, there had been nine women in the cell). The women could not leave the cell. They could receive visitors once a week but could not see their children. One of the women interviewed had been in detention for a month. 102. The Subcommittee reiterates its recommendation that the Criminal Investigation Directorate’s detention facility be used only for short-term provisional detention and that it offer the minimum conditions necessary for ensuring that the dignity of detainees is respected. In addition, the Subcommittee recommends that women detainees be allowed to receive visits from their children. Migrant holding centres 103. The Subcommittee also visited the holding centre for female migrants. The Subcommittee noted that women deprived of their liberty may not stay in the centre with their children. Some of the women stated that they had been subjected to ill-treatment in an immigration unit, that they had been mocked while being transferred and that they had gone more than 24 hours without access to sanitary napkins at the police station. Furthermore, the women who did not speak Spanish had not been given access to an interpreter or received timely assistance from their consulates. 104. The Subcommittee recommends that the State party allow women to remain with their children, conditions permitting, in line with the principle of the best interests of the child. 105. The Subcommittee recommends that the State party take into account the specific problems of women deprived of their liberty and the need to take measures to address these problems, in line with the Bangkok Rules, in particular rule 26, and the Subcommittee’s document on the prevention of torture and ill-treatment of women deprived of their liberty. B. Protection of adolescents in conflict with the law 106. The special regime governing the criminal responsibility of adolescents was implemented by Act No. 40 of 26 August 1999. Although the State party itself emphasizes that custodial measures are imposed only in exceptional circumstances, the information it provided to the Committee against Torture indicates that more than 500 minors are in custody, of whom some 300 are in juvenile detention facilities and nearly 200 are in adult facilities. Alternatives to custody have been granted to 406.10 107. Given that the State party’s objective is to ensure protection for adolescents in conflict with the law by facilitating their rehabilitation and enabling them to lead a life without crime, the amendments to Act No. 40, especially those of 2007 and 2010, are troubling. Like the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Subcommittee is particularly concerned about the increase in the maximum duration of deprivation of liberty from 5 10 Véase http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CAT/Shared%20Documents/PAN/INT_CAT_STA_ PAN_28353_S.pdf. 14 GE.18-12640