A/HRC/13/64 monetary arrangement with the arresting officer who forces the victim or his family to pay a bribe to buy back his liberty from the police. Because of fear of retribution or re-arrest, only rarely do individuals subsequently lodge a complaint after they have been released. Apart from these cases, illegal detentions are also politically motivated. Both of these problems are exacerbated by the dysfunctional state of the criminal justice delivery system.6 B. Conditions in the penitentiary system, torture and ill-treatment in detention Existing recommendations 9. Immediate steps should be taken to reduce overcrowding, to address appalling detention conditions and to improve security in all prisons. Additionally, legislation should be enacted to implement the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Effective measures should be taken to prevent any acts of torture or ill-treatment from occurring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Prompt, impartial and exhaustive investigations into alleged acts of torture and ill-treatment should be carried out, and the perpetrators convicted of such acts should be appropriately sentenced and ordered to compensate their victims. Moreover, the State should take effective measures to ensure that all persons reporting torture or ill-treatment are protected from threats or intimidation.7 Actions taken by the Government and the current situation 10. During the period under review, the Government has made little progress towards developing a policy to make prisons more self-sufficient. The new Strategic Plan on Prison Reform being developed by the Ministry of Justice with the support of the MONUC Rule of Law Division is under discussion. The majority of prisons are characterized by crumbling facilities, starvation and sickness. These conditions amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment for the detainees, and fail to comply with basic international standards for the humane and dignified treatment of prisoners.8 Abysmal prison conditions lead to an extremely high death rate for those in detention. Forty-four persons reportedly died in detention at the Centre pénitentiaire et de ré-éducation de Kinshasa (Penitentiary and Reeducation Centre of Kinshasa – CPRK), between January and August 2009, mainly due to a lack of food and medicine. 11. Overpopulation, resulting mainly from the abuse of pretrial detention, continues to be a major problem affecting prisons throughout the country. Convicts and pretrial detainees, as well as minors and adults, are often detained in the same areas. However, the authorities have taken some steps to reduce overpopulation. For instance, to alleviate overcrowding in the CPRK, the authorities released inmates who had served at least one quarter of their sentence and had been well-behaved. However, there are concerns that perpetrators of rape, sexual violence and other human rights violations also benefited from this decision. Given the protest registered against the releases granted to perpetrators of sexual violence, the Minister of Justice announced, in October 2009, that a bill is being prepared, the purpose of which is to exclude the perpetrators of sexual abuse from receiving a conditional release. 6 7 8 6 See below Part F. See footnote 1. Article 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. GE.10-10563