CAT/OP/MEX/1/Add.2
301. On the question of alleviating prison overcrowding, Mexico state, prompted by a
desire to emphasize the importance of the role of the prison service, which, in its view, is to
provide resocializing treatment aimed at the attainment of freedom in society, has amended,
supplemented and repealed several articles of the State Criminal Code, the State Judiciary
Act and the State Act on the Enforcement of Custodial and Liberty-restricting Penalties,
which has made it possible for the first time in 13 consecutive years to reverse the rising
trend in the prison population, which reached an historical peak of over 20,000 inmates and
an overpopulation rate of 103.4 per cent in 2007. As a consequence of that measure and the
implementation of unprecedented public policies to ease the pressure on prisons, which
have led to the release of 25,238 prisoners under different arrangements, as well as the
expansion of the prison infrastructure at the Tlalnepantla, Texcoco and El Oro facilities, the
overpopulation rate currently stands at 75 per cent, i.e. 28.4 percentage points below that
recorded in 2007.
302. In line with the foregoing, a new code of criminal procedure was brought into force
in the state on 1 October 2010 to ensure justice in the application of the law and provide for
the resolution of disputes arising from crimes, thereby contributing to the restoration of
social harmony between the parties involved, within a framework of unconditional respect
for the fundamental rights of the individual, as recognized in the Federal Constitution and
state constitution and also in international treaties adopted and in the resulting legislation,
the aim being to achieve the lowest number of persons deprived of liberty.
303. For the purpose of establishing state and central medical registers of deceased
persons, including their name and age, the place and cause of death, and also autopsy
details and attendant circumstances in cases of unnatural death, Circular No. 0005/2011
was issued in 2011 by the Jalisco state prison service to all penitentiaries and juvenile
detention centres, instructing them to apply strict control measures for recording prisoner
deaths on their premises by means of duly numbered entries in a single logbook containing,
at a minimum, the inmate’s name, age and cell block, the trial, court and crime, the date,
time, place and cause (diagnosis) of death and any other facts of significance concerning
the reason for the death, together with the log sheet number.
304. With regard to improving prison record systems, one of the priorities addressed
since the establishment of the National Conference of the Prison Service in 2009 has been
to create a nationally based register of the prison population. To that end the National
Registry of Prison Information (RNIP) has been set up by the Federal Government and a
data transfer tool, known as an integration bus, is to be installed for transferring information
from individual states’ databases to the RNIP database. Since the beginning of the year,
Platform Mexico personnel have been engaged in developing the related application
(database and interface) to achieve this objective.
3.
State of Jalisco
305. The following activities have been carried out as part of the work undertaken by the
state of Jalisco to renovate its places of detention:
• The capacity of the women’s rehabilitation centre has been expanded from 334 to
376 places, thereby improving inmates’ quality of life through the provision of more
decent living conditions and thus easing overcrowding at the centre. Financing to
implement this measure, amounting to approximately $41,979.00, was secured
through donations by private individuals;
• A substation and transformer for the supply of electricity in the event of power
failures at the social rehabilitation centre have been replaced owing to the poor state
of repair of the previous ones and fluctuations in voltage due to the large quantity of
82
GE.13-41196 (EXT)
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