CAT/OP/ARG/1/Add.1 3. Torture and ill-treatment 117. The provincial government has provided a report from the Internal Audit Office, describing its activities. This Office, which is independent of the police service, is staffed by civilian professionals and reports directly to the Ministry of Justice and Security. In accordance with Act No. 13204, the Office carries out significant work in combating corruption, abuse of authority and human rights violations occurring in the course of police activities. It is tasked with preventing, investigating and sanctioning such abuse of authority. B. 1. Prisons General issues 118. The provincial government drew attention to the practical changes it has made in order to demilitarize the Prison Service, including the appointment of a civilian lawyer to the position of head of the Service since 2005. That position is currently held by María Florencia Piermarini, a lawyer with specialized training in human rights and the first woman to head the prison service. 119. Similarly, all programmes implemented recently are led by civilians, such as the departmental authorities, which are managed and coordinated by two professionals. Therefore, this new initiative allows civilians to assume leadership roles not only at the highest levels, but also in key areas such as prison management. 120. The provincial authorities reported that since the Subcommittee’s visit, not only has progress been made with the inauguration of new facilities, but the model has been replicated in two further prisons in Melchor Romero and José C. Paz. 121. Furthermore, the provincial authorities emphasize that the operation of the different prison departments is supervised by civil servants who report directly to the Ministry of Justice and Security. These include: the 20 civilian supervisors attached to the Provincial Directorate for Prison Policy, who between them visit all prisons at least twice a week (Ministry of Justice Decision No. 65/04); the 30 representatives of the Ministry of Justice and Security in the admission and follow-up groups (Decree No. 2889/04); and the more than 2,000 professionals in the prison health department who work independently of the Prison Service (Decree No. 950/05). 122. In turn, the provincial government reported that all major decisions are monitored on a daily basis by civil servants belonging to the Under-Secretariat for Crime Policy, with priority given to monitoring the Provincial Directorate for Prison Policy, the Directorate for the Prison Population, the Inspection and Control Directorate, the Provincial Directorate for Contentious Issues and the Directorate for Crime Policy. 123. Lastly, the provincial government demonstrated that it fully shares the stated objective and will continue to make further changes in that regard. (a) Pretrial detention 124. With regard to pretrial detention, the provincial government referred to the provisions of Ministry of Justice and Security Decision No. 1938/10, which bases its classification of detainees on the separation, according to the status of their proceedings, between accused persons and convicted persons, and between men and women, and also takes into account factors such as age, the nature of the offence committed or sanctioned, criminal and psychosocial profiles and other vulnerable conditions requiring specialized treatment, such as total or partial disability. GE.14-40297 21