CAT/C/39/2
page 39
cases of torture reported to the ouvidoria in 1998; 162 in 2002; 48 in 2003; 56 in 2004 and 18
in the first quarter of 2005. Reports had concerned military police in 355 cases, there being
37890 such police, thereby indicating that about 1 per cent of military police had had complaints
alleged against them, while 351 concerned the civilian police. Reports concerned police outside
metropolitan areas mostly (272 out of 351; 220 out of 355).
161. The corregedoria of the civil police of São Paulo provided information on the number of
proceedings initiated against civil police officers for acts of torture. From 2003 to 2005, there
were a total of 12 administrative proceedings for torture and one civil police officer had been
suspended from his duties, while three have resigned. In the same period, there have been a total
of 175 administrative proceedings for police violence.
162. The Committee members were informed that some 1,700 monitors of FEBEM had been
suspended, but some had eventually been reintegrated following official investigations for grave
incidents and were working at other detention centers.
5.
The penitentiary system
163. The Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of the Federal House of
Representatives claimed that the penitentiary system was flawed and that the Government lacked
a penitentiary strategy to combat all the current problems. As explained by several government
officials, each state has its own individual penitentiary policies. It appears that often, state
policies are focused on the creation of new detention centres. In fact, the Committee members
were informed that in the last 10 years, the number of detention centres have doubled the number
of centres which were operative in the early 1980s.
164. Five new penitentiary centres are to be built at the federal level; one in each federal region.
Two will be completed by 2005, and the remaining three by 2006. This will alleviate, to a certain
extent, the existing need of federal detention centres, given that currently many detainees
sentenced for federal crimes or foreign prisoners are held in state penitentiaries. A training centre
will also be set up to train all personnel of the new federal penitentiary centres, and it is expected
that it will eventually train state penitentiary personnel.
165. A new penitentiary centre will also be established in Brasilia, which will reduce the
existing overcrowding by 1,500 persons. At the time of the visit, the Committee members were
told that there was an overpopulation of 3,000 inmates in the Federal District. Concerning
juvenile detention centres in Brasilia, the Secretary for Social Welfare of the Federal District
informed the Committee members that a new centre for juveniles in Brasilia, which will
accommodate 144 juveniles, will be inaugurated in October.
166. The Secretary for Penitentiary Administration of São Paulo provided the Committee
members with a list of all penitentiaries in the State of São Paulo, where out of a total of
134 centres, 77 had been built since 2000. During the inquiry mission, the penitentiary of
Carandiru was demolished. Assurances were also given by the Secretary of Justice of São Paulo
that the Tautapé centre for juveniles would be decommissioned by the end of the year.
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