A/HRC/17/42 with absolute independence and to proceed with the recruitment of judges according to the regulations in force. 46. In July 2010 the Legal Service Training College, with strong support from the international community, held its first competitive examination to recruit candidates for initial training as judges. The goal is to train 20 new judges over a period of 16 months in the various judicial techniques, the preparation and holding of court hearings or interviews, and the analysis and assessment of situations or cases. The participants will also receive management training, particularly in the areas of court organization and personnel management. The training also aims at building judges’ skills in listening, mediation and demonstrating authority and humility – all indispensable tools in the exercise of their functions. Another 20 or so judges will be trained at the Legal Service Training College in Bordeaux, France, thus strengthening the Haitian judiciary’s capacity in the long term. 47. A national system of legal aid has been established with the twin objectives of helping to curb the use of pretrial detention and thus reduce prison overcrowding, and of guaranteeing the right to a fair trial. Nine legal aid offices, which offer the services of a lawyer free of charge to persons otherwise unable to afford them, are now operational. The Port-au-Prince office was established by the Bar and the remaining eight are working with the help of the international community. The Independent Expert has noted that there are no plans to renew funding for these programmes, despite the people’s need for them. He recommends that donors continue to provide funding until the rebuilding of the judicial system is complete and a more permanent solution is found to the question of how to keep these services running. B. The prison system and extended pretrial detention 48. As on all of his missions, the Independent Expert visited prisons and other places of deprivation of liberty. According to the prisons administration,12 5,752 persons are deprived of their liberty, of whom 1,860 are convicted prisoners and 3,892, or 70 per cent, are in pretrial detention. The total surface area of places of detention is 3,455 m2, which means a theoretical area of 0.6 m2 per person. 49. The situation, however, varies considerably from one jurisdiction to another, both in terms of the amount of space allocated to persons deprived of their liberty and of the numbers of people held in pretrial detention. During his previous mission, the Independent Expert visited the prison in Cap-Haïtien, where the proportion of convicts and detainees held in pretrial detention are 55 per cent and 45 per cent respectively. In Jacmel prison, the figures are 58 per cent and 42 per cent, while in the women’s prison of Pétionville, nearly 90 per cent of the women are held in pretrial detention and only 10 per cent are serving prison sentences. The Independent Expert wonders what might lead to such variations in pretrial detention figures from one establishment to another. Several explanations have been offered, suggesting that it has to do with the types of offences committed, the number of cases tried in criminal courts and how different jurisdictions work. The Independent Expert recommends that a study be carried out in the country’s various jurisdictions in order to develop a better understanding of the phenomenon and refine support strategies for prisons. 50. The amount of space allocated to each prisoner or detainee in the three establishments visited is far greater than that allocated in the national prison. Moreover, the quality of detention facilities varies greatly from one establishment to another, accentuating 12 GE.11-12426 Figures from 3 March 2011. 11