A/HRC/31/77 36. In February, the Independent Expert had also visited the women’s prison in PétionVille. At the facility, which had been built for around 100 persons, he found 324 women, of whom only 35 had been sentenced, living in extremely overcrowded conditions. Some of them had been held in pretrial detention for 10 years. An 86-year-old woman had been in the prison for 6 years without ever having seen the judge who was in charge of her case. All the cells were infested with bedbugs, which plagued the women day and night. The sanitation facilities were not worthy of the name. 37. In September 2015, the Independent Expert visited the Petit-Goâve detention centre, where he had the opportunity to speak with an inmate who had been arrested in December 2007. When the earthquake struck in January 2010, he escaped from the national penitentiary, to which he had been transferred, but was then rearrested in January 2011, meaning that he had been deprived of his liberty for more than 6.5 years. When he asked the authorities to inform him of the accusations against him, a government commissioner admitted that no case file had been opened but said that he could not release the prisoner because he had to conduct an inquiry. This individual was, therefore, being arbitrarily detained in serious violation of the international obligations of Haiti. During the press conference at the end of his visit, the Independent Expert respectfully requested that the authorities immediately release the individual concerned. This case is a clear example of the ongoing abusive practice of prolonged pretrial detention; that practice must be stopped decisively and without further delay. 38. The Minister of Justice is aware of the problem and, at the time of the February 2015 visit, he informed the Independent Expert of some important initiatives that he was intending to launch. One of these initiatives would be the processing — with support from five legal aid bureaux in Port-au-Prince — of 450 cases not subject to a jury trial. Another would be the establishment of a working group to identify inmates being held for misdemeanors who, had they been tried and convicted, would have already served out their sentences. The Ministry was also considering other options for a long-term solution to the issue of prolonged pretrial detention, such as training programmes for judges, reporting requirements and institutional capacity-building, including for judicial inspections. 39. On 2 March 2015, the Minister of Justice launched a special “emergency operation” aimed at reducing prolonged pretrial detention and prison overcrowding by expediting the judicial handling of cases involving detainees who had not yet appeared before the appointed judge or who had already served their sentences and not yet been released. To that end, a commission comprising four deputy government commissioners was tasked with reviewing misdemeanor cases at the centres with the highest levels of pretrial detention. 40. The Minister of Justice issued five memorandums and circulars in March 2015 to remind government commissioners of their responsibilities with respect to, inter alia, the handling of cases and the need to respect procedural deadlines, establish all the facts and assess the appropriateness of prosecution. This approach is commendable and deserves to be integrated into a sustainable long-term strategy. 41. Five months after the launch of the operation, the results were encouraging: 427 cases had been examined by the commission and 119 cases had been tried, 52 of them ending in acquittal. Among those cases, 40 involved juveniles: 2 of the minors were released and 38 were placed in foster care. All of the minors received legal support from the legal aid bureaux. 42. The impact, however, has not been as impressive as one would hope. In fact, the prison population has increased since March. Previously situated at around 10,500 prisoners, the figure, according to the national police, stood at 11,319 prisoners in September 2015. Of them, 8,140 (72 per cent) were being held in pretrial detention, including 379 women, 203 boys and 20 girls. 8 GE.16-01946