Annual Report 2009-2010 5.11 It is pertinent to mention not all the cases of custodial deaths can be a�ributed to custodial violence or torture. In fact, many of these deaths were due to natural factors such as illness and old age. In the remaining cases, there appeared to be a variety of other reasons, inter alia, illness aggravated by medical negligence, violence on the part of public servants or between prisoners, suicide and other incapacitating factors. C. Conditions in Prisons 5.12 As per the PHRA, one of the functions of the Commission is to visit jails under the control of the State Governments where persons are detained or lodged for purposes of treatment, reformation or protection, so as to assess the living conditions prevalent therein and make recommendations thereon to the Government. As reiterated in the earlier Annual Reports of the NHRC, it has always laid emphasis on total prohibition of torture or any kind of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment towards undertrials and prisoners in the jails. It has also underlined that though the prisoner’s right to family contact may be restricted by the procedure established by law, it cannot be completely taken away. At the same time, it has stressed that special consideration must be given to women prisoners. Accordingly, over the years, the NHRC has issued several guidelines, made observations a�er conducting spot investigations and taken several other steps to improve the prevailing conditions in prisons so that undertrials and prisoners can lead their lives with dignity and enjoy their rights even as they await judgment or complete their sentence. Visits to Jails 5.13 In consonance with the functions elucidated under the PHRA, two Special Rapporteurs and the Acting Chairperson of the Commission visited five jails located in different States of the country during 2009-2010. The names of the jails visited by them were : Prothrapur District Jail in Andaman & Nicobar Islands (April 2009); Nagpur Central Jail in Maharashtra (May 2009); Keonjhar District Jail in Orissa (November 2009); Nashik Central Jail in Maharashtra (January 2010) and Agra Jail in U�ar Pradesh (March 2010). The main objective of these visits was to oversee the functioning of these prisons as well as study the human rights situation of the inmates there. Analysis of Prison Population 5.14 The NHRC compiles and analyzes State/Union Territory-wise statistics on prison population in the country to ascertain the actual position of overcrowding in the prisons and accordingly suggests measures for its decongestion. This is carried out by obtaining data from the Prison Headquarters of each State/Union Territory in a prescribed format every six months. During the period under review, it compiled and analyzed the prison statistics based on the information received as on 31 December 2008. 5.15 These statistics reveal that the trend of continuous increase in the percentage of overcrowding in prisons seems to have been contained by December 2006 due to several factors. A decline of 5.15 per cent was noticed up to December 2007. A further decline of 3.05 per cent NHRC 85