CAT/C/39/2 page 33 127. The Committee members considered that the situation in Polinter is also unacceptable for the six guards who have to control all the detainees. As in the case of many other police and prison guards with whom the Committee members met, they described their situation as degrading and dangerous. The Committee members were also astonished to see that detained policemen acted as guards in order to compensate for the low number of staff. 128. The Committee members had received allegations from a detainee concerning the existence of a soundproof room near the delegado’s office where detainees had been tortured. However, because the visit took place on a Saturday, a day when parts of the premises of the police station are closed, the subdelegado did not have the keys to the offices and the Committee members were unable to address these allegations. 129. The Committee members received and welcomed information that in early 2006 the Polinter remand centre was closed giving effect to an order for precautionary measures, of November 2005, issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. 130. On 25 July 2005, the Committee members visited the prison Bangu III in Rio de Janeiro where 448 inmates were held under a closed regime of maximum security. There was no overcrowding. However, the NGOs had alleged that there are many complaints of violence and ill-treatment relating to this centre and that the Director was also the Director of the Benfica Prison in May 2004 when an incident resulting in the deaths of 30 prisoners and one guard occurred. The Committee members were informed that all of the inmates held in this centre belong to the same criminal gang (Comando Vermelho) and have been sentenced mostly for crimes related to drug trafficking. The Bangu complex includes a prison hospital and inmates with AIDS are transferred to the Niterói Penitnentiary. Access to work is limited to a minority of inmates. Those who work can reduce their sentences. The Committee members were also informed that some of the workshops were destroyed in December 2003 after a riot. The differentiated disciplinary regime is not applied in the penitentiary. Should this regime be applied by a judge, the detainee would have to be transferred to the penitentiary centre Bangu I in Rio de Janeiro. There are usually only four public defenders that provide legal assistance to the inmates, a totally insufficient number. While the Defensoria Publica of the State of Rio de Janeiro was on strike, measures were adopted to provide assistance to the prisoners. However, numerous prisoners whose sentences had been served had not been released and the strike was used as an excuse for not releasing them. 131. The Committee Members also visited pavilion A of the penal institute Placido Sá Carvalho II in Rio de Janeiro. Detainees were held under a semi-open regime. There were eight cells of approximately 50 square metres where 38 men were held. Visits take place twice a week. There were allegations that the water is not clean and is often rationed. Legal assistance is provided but this is limited as only approximately 20 detainees receive assistance each day. This, like in other prisons, means that detainees remain in prison despite having served their term. The prisoners complained about the quality and quantity of the food. Not all prisoners have a mattress to sleep on. 132. The Committee members visited the women’s prison of Talavera Bruce in Rio de Janeiro. There were 310 inmates; 60 per cent had access to work and only 40 per cent were studying due to the lack of space in the school. As in the case other women’s prisons visited, there was a nursery which was well equipped. The majority of the inmates were being held for drug