CAT/OP/PRT/1 information on their status and on the reasons for their detention. The State party needs to keep detainees fully informed, in language they understand, of the reasons for their detention and the procedural and substantive stages of the immigration processes and should update them on the stages reached in a timely manner. 45. The Subcommittee would like to commend the State party on the conditions of detention in the female high security prison in Santa Cruz do Bispo. The Subcommittee was informed that the prison practises a model of public-private cooperation in which security and administration are under the responsibility of the State and medical, schooling, work, leisure and cultural activities are provided by a private partner. The delegation noticed open and respectful relations between the staff and the inmates and heard very little negative feedback from the prisoners interviewed. 46. The Subcommittee would like to note that, with very few exceptions, there were no complaints concerning visits to prisoners. All the prisoners interviewed said that they could receive regular visits once a week for one hour and intimate visits of a spouse or partner once a month for up to three hours, in accordance with the legal provisions in force. 11 B. Complaints mechanisms 47. The State party has several institutional mechanisms for the prevention of torture and ill-treatment in places of detention consisting, among others, of the national prevention mechanism; the Inspectorate General of Home Affairs; the audit and inspection service at the directorate-general of reintegration and prison services; and the commission for followup on the implementation of the compulsory internment regime. These institutions are authorized to visit places of deprivation of liberty and receive complaints from persons detained in police facilities (the national preventive mechanism and the Inspectorate General of Home Affairs), serving sentence in prison (the national preventive mechanism and the audit and inspection service) or placed in a mental institution or hospital (the national preventive mechanism and the follow-up commission). The Subcommittee noted, however, that information on these institutions was not readily available in places visited by the delegation and the inmates interviewed by the Subcommittee, with rare exceptions, were not aware of the existence of such monitoring and investigative mechanisms. Furthermore, the prisoners interviewed alleged that the complaint forms were not available or not easily available and that the complaint procedures were long and unclear. 48. The Subcommittee recommends that information on monitoring and investigation mechanisms and the relevant complaint procedures be made readily available to detained and arrested persons, including by displaying such information prominently in police stations and prisons. 49. It appeared to the Subcommittee delegation that most inmates were reluctant to make official complaints about verbal abuse or beatings by prison guards because they believed that the complaints system did not work. Some inmates reported that when they asked for a complaint book they were told that it did not exist; others said that sometimes the guards just destroyed their complaint form in front of them. Several prisoners reported that they never received a response even if their complaint had been delivered and considered. The same concerns were raised with regard to complaints about material conditions. Some inmates were not willing to complain about a lack of glass in the windows or a lack of warm blankets in winter (e.g., in Paços de Ferreira Prison), fearing relocation to even worse conditions. In one case, an inmate alleged that following his submission of a written complaint to a special parliamentary committee he had been denied visits and phone calls at Christmas and his first conjugal visit in two years had been cancelled. 50. The Subcommittee recommends that the State party put in place effective mechanisms to allow detainees to submit complaints concerning ill-treatment 11 Enforcement of sentences code, part XI, chap. I. 9