A/HRC/44/20 and that sanitation was precarious. The Ministry argued that the difficulties related to health and clean water, among others, were related to the impact of sanctions. 57. Despite efforts by the Ministry to expand health facilities in detention centres, access to health care remained insufficient, with only two centres having permanent doctors, while the rest relied mainly on nurses. Medicines and treatments are lacking, as are vehicles to refer emergency cases to hospitals. The Ministry implemented programmes to provide treatment to patients with chronic diseases, reporting malnutrition, hypertension and tuberculosis among the main ailments. OHCHR also gathered allegations of cases of scabies. 58. OHCHR identified delays in judicial proceedings as one of the main challenges. Causes for procedural delays were multiple, in particular a lack of transportation to bring detainees to tribunals, a lack of timely issuance and reception of transfer orders from tribunals, and absences of parties at hearings. A lack of access to interpretation services for some foreign detainees was also observed, as well as limited access to appropriate legal counsel by public defenders, which often led inmates to plead guilty in order to avoid lengthy proceedings. 59. The Ministry reported that 62 per cent (24,577) of its detainees had been indicted and 38 per cent (15,146) had been convicted.33 OHCHR documented cases of inmates who met the criteria to benefit from alternative measures to detention, including inmates over 70 years of age or qualifying for conditional release for health reasons, but who nonetheless were remained in detention due to lack of response from the judicial system to requests for the granting of benefits. To address these delays in the judicial system, the Ministry reported that in 2019, through the Plan Cayapa, a total of 378,143 legal counselling actions were undertaken. In addition, in the period 1 June 2019 to 31 May 2020, a total of 4,320 alternative measures to serving sentences were granted. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry granted more than 800 alternative measures to detention to ensure the security and health of detainees. 60. OHCHR identified additional, discriminatory challenges faced by women in detention, including greater limitations in opportunities for family visits; restrictive access to sanitation required to meet their gender-specific hygiene needs and sexual and reproductive health care; fewer recreational activities; and fewer – and less-varied – training activities. 61. OHCHR documented a riot that occurred in the Cepello detention centre in Guanare, Portuguesa State, on 1 May, during which 47 detainees were killed and 69 injured. The Office of the Attorney General conducted a prompt investigation into the killings. On 13 May, it charged five members of the Bolivarian National Guard with deliberate murder and abuse of power. It also charged four detainees who had internal control over the prison with deliberate murder and arms trafficking, and the director of the centre with complicity in introducing weapons. The Ministry for Penitentiary Services transferred all surviving detainees to other centres and announced that it had regained control of the centre. As at 30 May, around 30 detainees with serious injuries were still waiting for surgical interventions, pending the delivery of health equipment and materials to the local hospital. 34 62. OHCHR regrets it did not have access to preventive detention centres administered by the Ministry of Interior, State governments and municipal police. However, it received information about overcrowding, with detention centres averaging above 315 per cent of maximum capacity on a country-wide basis; high levels of violence; and lack of access to food, water and health care.35 63. In a penitentiary administered by the Ministry of Defence for military personnel, OHCHR observed the presence of civilian detainees, undue judicial delays, a lack of 33 34 35 Ibid. http://unaventanaalalibertad.org/alertas/portuguesa-30-sobrevivientes-de-la-masacre-del-cepellapadecen-sin-tratamientos-ni-cirugias/ (in Spanish). http://unaventanaalalibertad.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Informe-I-Semestre-2020-VERSIONFINAL.pdf (in Spanish). 11