vii. Make effective, the provisions of the Prisons Act which establishes Visiting Justices to oversee prison conditions, with a view to ensuring independent and regular oversight of prison and detention conditions; IN RESPONSE The Prisons Act, Act No. 17 of 1998 was repealed by the Correctional Service Act, Act No 9 of 2012 which reenacted the provisions on visiting justices. The newly passed Correctional Services Act, Act No.9 of 2012 in Section 122 provides for Visiting Justices. The Act recognizes a variety of persons as visiting justices e.g. Judges of the Supreme and High Court of Namibia, Cabinet Ministers, Members of Parliament, the Permanent Secretary (of the Ministry of Safety and Security), Governors and regional council members of a specific region for Correctional facilities in the specific region as well as the magistrate for that specific region. The visiting justices perform a variety of functions that range from visiting the whole facility including the persons in solitary confinement as well as testing the food being served. They can also investigate any complaint received by them and make recommendations to parliament. The major challenge however remains in structuring these visits in such a way that they take place systematically with formal documentation of the recommendations made as well as a follow up whether these recommendations were in fact implemented. The Ombudsman has encouraged the various magistrates to visit places of detention in their districts. Members of the Regional Councils have in the past undertaken visits to various police cells but no visits to correctional facilities to specifically perform the functions of visiting justices. However, the Office of the Ombudsman still undertakes inspection visits to all correctional facilities and police cells and report to Parliament. Social Workers from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare do undertake periodic visits to police cells (not prisons) and keep record of these visits on their findings through a monthly report system. viii. Provide in the next Periodic Report comprehensive information on prisons and conditions of detention as well as disaggregated statistics in this regard; IN RESPONSE Several measures pertaining to the improvements of standards of living in prisons are being taken to improve the situation. These include the renovations of the old -7-