the general police custodial. However, these cells are located among the cells where adults are detained. MPS informed on March 8, 2007 that a design for Juvenile detention centre has been drafted and they are in the process of finding financial support for the building. g) Maldives Police Service has recently, established a custodial wing within one of the Prison premises as to address the issue of overcrowding. However, this custodial wing is not officially recognized and this change further moved away from the general principles of clear separation of suspected detainees from the convicted prisoners. h) At present, the penitentiary system does not have rehabilitation facilities considering the large number of repeat offenders. There was an ad‐hoc training initiatives by the prison management that continued till April 2009, which came to a standstill following a fire incident in one of the prisons. During this period, some level of vocational trainings and academic teaching was provided. Likewise, the proposed budget for prison management for the year 2011 included a considerable amount of budget for rehabilitation. However, the budget on rehabilitation was deducted during the budget formalization process at the Parliamentary review stage. As recent developments, HRCM has been informed that efforts are underway to formulate a comprehensive rehabilitation system; however, it is not clear when this would be implemented, as formal plans are yet to be developed. i) In addition, the Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Services had revealed that there are plans to start secondary educational teaching within one of the Prisons, as well as plan to initiate prison industry.19However, no efforts are in place to rehabilitate the three vulnerable groups residing in HPSN, although there has been a temporary project where an occupational therapist was in place for a few months in the year 2009. Unfortunately, the plan that has been put forward by the therapist has not been implemented. Moreover, there Chapter: Article 7 – Prohibition of Torture & Article 10 –Conditions of Detention f) There exist issues pertaining to solitary confinement in detention facilities at large, more so in prisons and police custodial. NPM has also observed prevalence of such practices in the Home for People with Special Needs (HPSN).18 During NPM’s visit to Police Custodial, it was observed that among the six cells for solitary confinement for male detainees, five cells were occupied. Among these detainees there were detainees who have been held there for several days and several months without been allowed to go outside, even for walks and exercise. Moreover, lights in some of these cells were broken which makes the cells very dark at night. 25