E/CN.4/1997/7/Add.3 page 23 77. The legal system in practice continues to place heavy reliance on confessions, probably because of the lack of competence and resources of the investigating bodies to develop other incriminating evidence. Meanwhile, the law, as interpreted by the courts (art. 182 of the Penal Code), only protects inmates of prisons from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment as understood in international law. The law relating to the infliction of slight or serious injuries ( lesiones leves o graves ) is inadequate. 78. Misgivings expressed by both non-governmental and governmental interlocutors regarding the role of the PTJ as the investigating body for complaints of torture, especially where PTJ officials are the alleged perpetrators, seemed plausible. So did concerns regarding the inappropriateness of the Instituto de Medicina Legal being a part of the PTJ. 79. The nudo hecho procedure, designed to protect public officials from false and malicious accusations of wrongdoing, was commonly and credibly perceived as being a shield to protect them from real accountability. The effectiveness of the 10-day processing rule instituted by the Attorney General (Fiscal General ) had not, at the time of the mission, resulted in overcoming this problem. 80. Access to the courts for a remedy was seriously hampered by the lack of free legal advice to persons without the means to pay for legal advice. 81. Conditions in the three institutions of deprivation of liberty he visited were incompatible with the international prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and were effectively recognized as such by those responsible for administering them. They ranged from the anarchic (Sabaneta), through the grossly overcrowded (La Planta), to the exiguously restrictive (Cochecito). The overwhelming majority of inmates were unconvicted persons, supposedly benefiting from the presumption of innocence. Indeed, in Sabaneta and La Planta there was no separation of convicted and unconvicted persons, nor between those held in respect of graver or lesser crimes. 82. Most of the problems described above, including those relating to prison conditions, were blamed on the inadequacy of the resources made available to the relevant bodies. The police were undertrained and underpaid and generally held in low esteem. Overworked judges, handling traditional, cumbersome procedures, found it easier to order detention than releases; the prison system or, in the case of minors, the INAM had to accept far more inmates than it was capable of absorbing or to leave them, specially in the case of minors, in the hands of the police. Just about every possible shortage afflicted the prison system: insufficient space, insufficient and inadequately paid and trained guards, insufficient and inadequate food, medical facilities and recreational, educational and work facilities. They could not even transfer prisoners to scheduled court hearings. Since no institution could do its job according to law and agreed practice, all had to make do. The result is arbitrariness and attendant corruption and oppressiveness. 83. There is no suggestion that these problems reflect the will of the country's political leadership. Indeed, many of the proposed reforms described earlier suggest a desire for improvement. Nevertheless, to the