A/HRC/30/19 detention is often prolonged owing to inadequate police investigations, lost case files and a shortage of judges. In many States, there are huge backlogs of cases, especially involving pretrial detention, and an urgent need to increase judicial capacity to deal with these. 144 Furthermore, owing to lack of resources and trained officers, alternative measures and parole systems are not implemented.145 The efficiency of the criminal justice system is also negatively impacted by inappropriate communication systems between prosecutors, public defenders and judges.146 These deficiencies within the criminal justice system also mean that the status of those in detention is not reviewed at regular intervals.147 Furthermore, many States lack comprehensive and well-resourced legal aid programmes. 36. Moreover, many individuals remain in detention owing to the absence of centralized registers and the lack of an effective system to monitor the length of pretrial detention or progress in the implementation of sentencing.148 In the absence of such registers, and with poor communication between criminal justice actors,149 authorities simply lack accurate knowledge about who is due to be released. This not only prolongs pretrial detention but also keeps those who have already completed their sentence in custody, thereby contributing to overcrowding. 150 B. Excessive recourse to pretrial detention 37. The Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture has stated that the excessive use and length of pretrial detention is a major cause of overcrowding, 151 and that the overuse and misuse of pretrial detention needs to be tackled as a matter of priority.152 Other international153 and regional154 bodies have also reported an excessive recourse to pretrial detention, a measure that should only be a last resort and subject to certain conditions,155 but that in practice is often applied even to such minor cases as theft of a mobile telephone,156 a pen or a chicken.157 In some countries, pretrial detainees reportedly 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 See CAT/C/KEN/CO/2, para. 15; CAT/C/TGO/CO/2, para. 12; A/HRC/19/57, para. 36; A/HRC/25/71, paras. 34 and 41; and www.achpr.org/files/sessions/37th/missionreports/ethiopia/misrep_specmec_priso_ethopia_2004_eng.pdf, p. 52. See A/HRC/25/60/Add.1, paras. 84, 99; and www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/RuleOfLaw/Overincarceration/PDH_Guatemala.pdf. See CAT/OP/HND/1, para. 184; CAT/OP/PRY/2, para. 33. See CAT/OP/BEN/1, para. 160; CAT/OP/HND/1, para. 184. See Montero-Aranguren v. Venezuela, Inter-American Court of Human Rights Judgement (2006), para. 60(9); CAT/C/KHM/CO/2, para. 19. See CAT/OP/PRY/2, para. 33; CAT/OP/HND/1, para. 184. See CAT/C/RWA/CO/1, para. 19; CAT/OP/BEN/1, para. 161; CAT/OP/PRY/1, para. 46. See CAT/C/54/2, para. 77; and www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/RuleOfLaw/Overincarceration/CNCPPDH_Algeria.pdf. See CAT/C/46/2, para. 52, and CAT/C/54/2, para. 83. See CAT/C/TGO/CO/2, para. 12; A/HRC/25/60/Add.1, para. 84; E/CN.4/2004/56, para. 49; A/HRC/19/57, para. 48; and CCPR/C/TUR/CO/1, para. 17. See www.achpr.org/files/sessions/37th/missionreports/ethiopia/misrep_specmec_priso_ethopia_2004_eng.pdf, p. 24; www.achpr.org/files/sessions/37th/mission-reports/prisons2004/misrep_specmec_priso_southafrica_2004_eng.pdf, Chapter F; Council of Europe document CPT/Inf (2014) 15, para. 126; and CPT/Inf/C (2002) 1 [Rev. 2015] Section: 7/86, para. 28. See CAT/C/54/2, para. 84, and Council of Europe document CPT/Inf (2014) 31, para. 56. See CAT/OP/MLI/1, para. 29. See www.achpr.org/files/sessions/52nd/inter-act-reps/185/activty_report_prisons_eng.pdf, p. 10. 13