A/HRC/28/68/Add.4 Given that the Special Rapporteur was forced to suspend visits to places of detention, he was unable to verify these reports. 69. In accordance with articles 2 and 16 of the Convention against Torture, the Government is obliged to prevent acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 70. The only monitoring of prisons is conducted by the Visiting Committee (section 22 of the Prisons Act), which mainly comprises several government officials appointed by the Ministry of the Interior. The Visiting Committee is mandated to visit the Mile 2 Central Prison every three months and report on any substandard conditions. The Special Rapporteur did not receive a report of this Committee. Only one non-governmental organization has access to the prisons to provide educational and rehabilitative services. Its access is limited to the general areas; the security wing and solitary confinement cells are off-limits. National institutions 71. Ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and designation of a national preventive mechanism under its article 17 is urgently needed as there is no truly independent and effective monitoring of all places of detention. The Special Rapporteur expresses his concern at the lack of oversight at Mile 2 Central Prison, in the light of overcrowding in the remand wing and the inaccessibility of the security wing, as well as at reports of unofficial places of detention, including at the National Intelligence Agency headquarters. 72. There is currently no national institution that could undertake monitoring. The Office of the Ombudsman claims to have a wide mandate18 but its titular head has little interest in such a role and claims there is a lack of resources to address issues of excessive use of force, torture or ill-treatment. For a number of years, the Government has debated a plan to establish a national human rights commission. For the 2010 universal periodic review, the Gambia committed itself to developing a draft law to that effect which was elaborated in 2013 but found not to be fully compliant with international standards. A revised draft has still not been tabled at the National Assembly. C. Conditions of detention Overcrowding 73. Since the Special Rapporteur was forced to suspend visits to all places of detention, he was unable to assess independently the conditions in any of the prisons or police stations. 74. While the Special Rapporteur was unable to observe directly the extent of overcrowding, the Director of Prison Services admitted that it was indeed a problem and provided statistics19 on the level of overcrowding. Overcrowding in Mile 2 Central Prison was the most severe as it has an official capacity of 450 but contained a total of 817 inmates (789 male and 28 female). In Jeshwang Prison (official capacity 150), there were 201 adult inmates and 15 juveniles. In Janjangbureh Prison (official capacity 50), there were 88 inmates. 18 19 See A/HRC/WG.6/20/GMB/1, para. 129. Statistics provided on 6 November 2014. 13