CAT/C/PRT/CO/5-6 The State party should: (a) Ensure that all reports of torture or ill-treatment are investigated promptly, effectively and impartially by appropriate independent bodies at the criminal level, irrespective of disciplinary investigations; (b) Ensure that persons suspected of having committed acts of torture or illtreatment are immediately suspended from their duties and remain so throughout the investigation; (c) Prosecute persons suspected of having committed torture or illtreatment and, if they are found guilty, ensure that they receive sentences that are commensurate with the gravity of their acts and that their victims are afforded appropriate redress; (d) Ensure that all medical examinations of prisoners are conducted out of the hearing and, whenever the security situation allows, out of the sight of prison officers, and that medical records are made available to the prisoner concerned and his lawyer upon request; and (e) Ensure that injuries observed during the medical screening of prisoners upon admission or thereafter by medical staff are fully recorded, including information on the consistency between the allegations made and the injuries observed. Whenever injuries are indicative of ill-treatment, a report should be promptly sent by the medical staff to the supervisory judge, the prosecutor and the prison inspection services. Complaints mechanisms 10. The Committee notes the different internal and external inspection services of the police and prison administration competent to receive complaints and carry out disciplinary investigations on ill-treatment and the lack of clarity this may create when lodging a complaint. As regards criminal complaints, the Committee is also concerned by instances in which the police have refused to provide proof of the registered complaint to the person submitting it (arts. 12, 13 and 16). The State party should establish a central mechanism to receive complaints of torture or ill-treatment, and should ensure that such a mechanism is accessible to all places of detention, especially prisons. Individuals alleging ill-treatment should be able to know exactly to whom they should address their complaint and should be duly informed of the action taken on their complaint. The State party should also ensure that the complainant is protected against all ill-treatment or intimidation that may arise as a consequence of his complaint. A centralized register of complaints of torture and illtreatment should be kept that includes information on the corresponding investigations, trials and criminal or disciplinary penalties imposed. The existing inspection bodies, including the supervisory judge and the Ombudsman, should be provided with the resources necessary to strengthen their monitoring functions, including in forensic psychiatric hospitals. Conditions of detention 11. While acknowledging the State party’s efforts to increase the capacity of penal institutions, the Committee remains concerned at the current overpopulation of 115 per cent. The Committee takes into account, in this regard, that about 20 per cent of the prison population is in pretrial detention, and regrets the lack of information on the average pretrial detention time. The Committee regrets, furthermore, that prison facilities, such as the psychiatric hospital at Santa Cruz do Bispo Prison or the Lisbon Central Prison, continue to operate in deplorable conditions. The Committee also notes with concern that the placement of prisoners in high security units is, in practice, routinely prolonged without 4