competent, independent and impartial court, and the right to appeal a conviction. The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the importance of these Constitutional guarantees and ruled that all courts maintain the same. By implementing intelligence-led investigation in line with the National Criminal Justice policy through the various BPR studies at the federal and regional levels, it has been possible to shorten the time frame of criminal investigations take. Suspects are not arrested before the gathering of sufficient evidence and a time frame is to be provided for investigators and prosecutors to complete their criminal investigations. Particular attention has been given to activities designed to better ensure respect of the human rights of persons arrested, held in custody and convicted persons and there were aptly incorporated in the National Growth and Transformation Plan (2010/11-2014/15). The human rights of persons held in custody have been included in the curricula of Federal and regional police training institutes and colleges and trainings given accordingly. Numerous on-job trainings have also been given to management and guard officers of Prison administrations on the rights of convicted persons. Regular visits of prisons have been conducted by members of the Ministry of Justice, the House of Peoples‟ Representatives and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission at the federal level and the Bureaus of Justice and the State Councils at Regional level to monitor respect for human rights. Recommendations are regularly submitted to the management of Prison Administrations and other relevant government bodies so that corrective measures can be taken as necessary. The Ministry of Justice has submitted a draft proclamation on community service sentencing and other alternative forms of punishments to the government. In the implementation of the right of convicted persons to petition for pardon, the government released over sixty-two thousand /62,000/ prisoners have been from federal and regional prisons in the country since 1993. This pardon has been granted on the basis of good behavior and moral rehabilitation. In addition to this, the Ministry of Justice is currently drafting a new proclamation on the procedures for granting pardon to replace the one in force to ensure improved and wider access to the right. Prison Administrations across the country provide three meals a day to all prisoners and continuous revision and an increase has been made in the amount of money allocated to feed each convict in line with market prices. 54