 Ensuring case-by-case follow-up of convicts not yet detained against whom surveillance measures and judicial assistance have been imposed. 40. In this regard, it must be underscored that the last amendments made in the criminal code introduced alternative sentences instead of custodial ones for convicts, and they generally consist of community service. These sanctions tend to facilitate rehabilitation of the convicted person in the form of providing labour and making the convict undertake positive and restorative activities for the society by preventing relapse into offences. In this regard, the judge responsible for the enforcement of sentences presides over the prison’s advisory committee on probation services, and he is tasked with assisting the judge in determining the key modalities for the treatment to be meted out to every offender. 41. Further to these measures, the Senegalese government provided all the 37 prisons in the country with socio-educational services under the 2013 budget. Backyard gardens were also developed in these prisons so as to contribute to improving the dieting of the inmates. The backyard garden area of Sébikotane was rehabilitated for this purpose and the MAC at Sédhiou is undertaking fish farming on experimental basis. e. Improvement of working and living conditions of prisons staff : 42. In the last ten years, the Government of Senegal has recruited about 700 officers. The status of the staff has been changed and benefits such as housing allowance have been provided them. 43. About twenty vehicles have been allocated to the prison’s authorities to facilitate staff mobility, in particular in cases such as administrative transfers, fulfilling judicial orders for removals, medical evacuations and meeting other official administrative needs. 44. The emphasis was also laid on the determination to address long prison sentences and overcrowding in prisons. In this regard, several measures were taken particularly by establishing a monitoring mechanism for long periods of remand in custody. In fact, regarding correctional matters, the duration of the warrant of commital is six (6) months pursuant to the provisions of Article 127a of the Criminal Procedure Code. 45. In criminal matters just as in investigations, the duration of the warrant of committal has not yet been determined. In practice, the prison’s administration establishes and forwards on quarterly basis to the Keeper of the Seals the status of accused persons who have spent three or more years in detention. A tribunal, domiciled at the Supreme Court, receives requests for compensation for persons on remand who have finally been cleared of the charges, freed or acquitted. In short, the fight against long periods of remand, which has become the principle of the Senegalese government, consolidates the rights of detainees to be 13