HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, /MONTSAME/
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Prison and Detention Center Conditions
According to Amnesty International, conditions in prisons were poor but improved during the year. The low quality of medical care available to prisoners remained a concern. The General Authority for Implementing Court Decisions (GAICD) reported that there were 7,265 prisoners, of whom 452 were women and 75 were juveniles. UN officials reported that children and adults often were not separated in police detention facilities. The GAICD reported 20 deaths during the year in prisons and prison clinics under its control. The National Police and GAICD reported two deaths in detention facilities. Amnesty International declared that this number was understated due to the practice of correctional officials releasing terminally ill patients from their ward shortly before their impending death.
Amnesty International reported that conditions at holding cells in police stations and pretrial detention facilities remained poor. Sources reported incidents of detainee abuse and forced confessions and cited the conflict of interest inherent in the National Police's continued oversight of administrative predetention facilities, due to their concurrent responsibility to interrogate detainees. Overcrowding and low-quality medical care threatened the health of detainees. There were approximately 900 detainees in the sole pretrial criminal detention facility serving Ulaanbaatar in Gants-khudag, a dark building with poor ventilation and a capacity according to the GAICD of 640. At times cells held eight persons in spaces intended for two or three. Detainees were granted only one hour of time outside their cell per week.
Within the Denjin Myanga administrative detention facility in Ulaanbaatar, sources reported that detainees found guilty of administrative offenses lived in squalid conditions due to overcrowding and poor ventilation. Although the section holding them was built to hold 120, there often were more than 200 detainees. Officials reported that conditions were worst in the winter, when arrests increase and the severe cold weather precludes outside activities.
Inebriated individuals were detained in overcrowded police-operated detoxification centers for up to 24 hours. Officials reported that they lacked the resources to provide adequate water, food, hygienic standards, adequate bedding, ventilation, and bathing facilities. Detainees were stripped to their underclothing and kept in stone-floored, overcrowded cells with only a blanket to keep warm for the duration of their detention. Children were detained alongside adults, and detainees were kept together regardless of whether their crime was violent or not. Diseases were common among inmates and guards alike.
Many inmates entered prison and detention centers infected with tuberculosis or contracted it in prison. The government quarantined and treated victims at its tuberculosis hospital.
NGOs and the government offered vocational, educational, outdoor, and religious activities. NGOs provided clothing, food, books, English-language instruction, and vocational training in prisons and detention centers.
Prisoners and detainees had reasonable access to visitors and were permitted religious observance. The law allows prisoners and detainees to submit complaints to judicial authorities without censorship and request investigations, but Amnesty International stated that in many cases this process was significantly flawed and failed to address legitimate complaints. The Prosecutor's Office and State Special Inspection Agency monitored prison and detention center conditions. In November the results of monitoring by the Capital City Prosecutor's Office and Capital City Special Inspection Office were released publicly. Their report disclosed problems of hygiene, including failure to clean rooms and bedding, failure of cafeteria staff to abide by standards, contamination of the drinking water with bacteria, and inadequacies in the dimensions and conditions of the cells.
The NHRC monitored conditions at several prisons and detention centers. Monitors from the diplomatic and human rights community were granted unaccompanied meetings with prisoners during the year. The GAICD reported that ombudsmen are not able to serve on behalf of prisoners and detainees.
At year's end the GAICD reported that the government had invested 19.9 billion tugrik ($16 million) in prison renovation since 2006, resulting in improvements in 35 facilities.
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