A/HRC/25/42 an environment conducive to torture or other ill-treatment. In contrast, when detention facilities have been handed over to trained officers of the Judicial Police (the prison service of Libya), there have been marked improvements in the condition and treatment of detainees. The report found that torture is widespread and most frequent immediately after arrest and during the first days of interrogation to extract confessions and other information. Detainees are usually held without access to lawyers and with only occasional, if any, access to families. The report recorded 27 cases of death in custody since 2011, of which 11 took place in 2013, for which significant information suggests that torture was the cause of death. The report also noted the measures taken by the Libyan authorities to address arbitrary detentions and torture, such as the adoption of a law in April 2013, criminalizing torture, enforced disappearances and discrimination, which provided for terms of imprisonment ranging from five years to life depending on the harm caused. 23. The Human Rights, Transitional Justice and Rule of Law Division has paid particular attention to the situation of female detainees and knew of approximately 80 female inmates held in five prisons or detention facilities as of November 2013. The majority were detained without due process in connection with the conflict. Female detainees have raised a number of concerns relating to the lack of female guards, the access of male guards to their cells and the lack of specialized health care. Several female detainees stated that they had been sexually harassed during detention in their cells or during interrogation. 24. The screening process and the investigation of conflict-related detainees have been a major challenge for the public prosecution. Despite progress made in this regard in Misrata and Zawiya, thousands of detainees are still awaiting judicial process. The recently promulgated Law on Transitional Justice provides for a deadline of 90 days from its promulgation to complete the screening process, whereby detainees would be either charged or released. However, given the lack of State control of the majority of detention facilities, in conjunction with security issues and capacity constraints, the judicial system faces a significant challenge in successfully meeting such a deadline. 25. In August 2013, a new State prison, the al-Jawwiyah Institution for Correction and Rehabilitation, was inaugurated in Misrata. Conditions at the prison are a marked improvement on many other detention facilities in Libya. The opening of the prison is an important step forward in enabling the handover of detainees to a prison under full control of the authorities. 26. During the course of 2013, staff of the Human Rights, Transitional Justice and Rule of Law Division visited over 30 detention centres, mostly in western Libya, where the largest concentration of detainees is found. Through this monitoring work, the Division notified the Libyan authorities of relevant issues and specific cases requiring attention. It also made a number of recommendations, which led to interventions by the Ministry of Justice and an improvement of the human rights situation in specific detention centres. For example the situation in the Majer Correction and Rehabilitation Institution in Zlitan was considerably improved following such an intervention in July 2013. 2. The judiciary 27. Under the Qadhafi regime, a parallel judicial system was used as a tool of political repression, most often through the State security courts, where the rights of the accused were routinely violated, even in instances where these rights were guaranteed in Libyan law. In addition, judges, prosecutors, State lawyers and members of the legal department in the Government constituted one single corps and the practice of appointing judges to other non-judicial legal positions within the corps was often used by the regime to punish or intimidate judges known for their integrity and independence. This practice was in violation of the principle of independence and irremovability of judges. Accordingly, the Human 8