CAT/C/39/2 page 23 82. Juvenile detention centres are under different jurisdictions, such as the Centre for Specialized Juvenile Attention (Centro de Atendimento Juvenil Especializado, CAJE) in Brasilia, the State Foundation for the Well-Being of Minors (Fundação Estadual do Bem-Estar do Menor, FEBEM) in São Paulo, the General Department for Socio-Educational Measures (Departamento Geral de Ações Sócio-Educativas, DEGASE) in Rio de Janeiro or the Office of Social and Educational Measures (Superintendência de Atendimento às Medidas Sócio-Educativas) in Minas Gerais. 1. Material conditions of detention 83. In the majority of the centres visited, particularly the delegacias, which have not been decommissioned, and the provisional detention centres, the material conditions of detention were appalling (see paragraph 178). In addition, the authorities, who are fully aware of the situation, continue to detain persons in these conditions for prolonged periods of time. In fact, these conditions contribute in a decisive way to the destruction of the physical and emotional wellbeing of the detainees. The poor conditions also affect the detainees’ families, namely due to the conditions under which visits in most establishments take place. 2. Centres visited (a) Juvenile detention centres 84. By law, juvenile detention centres are supposed to provide educational, medical and recreational facilities to help reintegrate juvenile offenders into society. However, the infrastructure and the material conditions of the centres visited make this task next to impossible to accomplish. Indeed, according to a 2003 presidential action plan on child welfare, in the case of 71 per cent of detention centres, the physical plant was deemed “inadequate” to comply with socio-educational purposes required by law.31 The Committee members also noticed that children32 were not separated on the basis of age and physical build as required by the law. 85. On 15 July 2005, the Committee members visited a detention centre for juveniles in Brasilia under the responsibility of CAJE. While the centre could accommodate approximately 240 juveniles, it housed 370. Girls were less than 10 per cent of the centre’s population. As in other juvenile centres, juveniles were supervised by monitors. There were a total of 16 policemen on shifts to guard the centre. The Committee members were told that these policemen do not have any direct contact with the children. The centre has a school with 42 teachers and juveniles can pursue different activities, including tertiary education. The cells where boys were held were overcrowded, holding twice as many children as their capacity. The 31 Presidente Amigo da Criança e do Adolescente: Plano de Ação, 2004-2007, October 2003, available at http://www.fundabrinq.org.br/_Abrinq/documents/biblioteca/planodeacao_ presidente2004.pdf. 32 Article 1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Chile provides that “a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier”.