A/HRC/22/65 43. The space allocated to convicted and remand prisoners is 60 cm2 on average, and only 34 cm2 in Anse Prison in Vaux. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) recommends that, in very grave crisis situations, the floor space available to each detainee should be at least 2 m2.8 Despite the efforts of the international community and of ICRC, to which the independent expert should like to pay special homage, prisons in Haiti are still places where cruel, inhuman and degrading conditions obtain. Prisons should not be places of suffering but rather places of deprivation of liberty in which all rights must be afforded with, of course, the exception of the freedom to come and go. 44. Hygiene and health-care conditions are generally very poor, despite ICRC assistance and the refurbishments carried out at some prisons. Moreover, because of the small number of doctors and nurses, access to care, where it exists, is limited to symptomatic treatment of the most common illnesses. The independent expert recommends that prisons be supplied with sufficient stocks of medicines, drugs and food to guarantee prisoners their right of access to health care and food. 45. At the time of writing, work on the construction of Hinche prison had resumed after being blocked for a long time for absurd administrative and budgetary reasons: the construction budget had been allocated for other purposes. 46. The recent opening of the Croix des Bouquets prison offers a glimmer of hope and an insight into what a prison system established on the basis of respect for the relevant international standards could look like in Haiti. The independent expert thanks the donors, first and foremost Canada, for this initiative, and once more recalls that prison should be the place where rehabilitation of convicted and remand prisoners begins. 47. The construction of the Croix des Bouquets prison is clearly a step forward, but it cannot in and of itself provide a satisfactory response to the country’s immense needs. The institution is well built and well designed. However, now that it has just been inaugurated, it must be said that without a special effort to ensure that it is run properly, all the hopes placed in it risk being disappointed, due to inadequate funding. The resources available in terms of staffing, security installations and budgetary allocations are insufficient at present to allow the prison to run according to the standards that were set. 48. The independent expert shared with the many Haitians and international representatives that he met the recommendation that, even if the 2012–2013 budget does not contain a specific allocation for running the prison, fresh resources, perhaps even budgetary support, should be provided to allow it to function as a model institution. The independent expert should like to sound a note of caution to the international community, which is preparing to finance the construction of several prisons, because a failure to complete the Croix des Bouquet programme as it was originally conceived will only disappoint the hope that this institution will help progressively to raise prison standards in Haiti. 49. Prison conditions, then, continue to amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment within the meaning of the Convention against Torture. The independent expert recommends that the State sign the Convention and ratify its optional protocol at the same time. The Office of the Ombudsperson, which is also active in prisons, in Port-au-Prince and the departments of Haiti could then be designated as a national mechanism for the prevention of torture. In that capacity, it could conduct visits to detention facilities. The independent expert suggests that the Haitian authorities reflect upon this matter, in close 8 GE.13-10672 ICRC: “Water, sanitation, hygiene and habitat in prisons” (2004), p. 19. 9