CAT/OP/CHL/1 whose conduct is in breach of military order and discipline and that under no circumstances may it be extended to cover the commission of ordinary offences against civilians. In addition, the State party should ensure that, in cases involving officials of Carabineros, suspected offenders are investigated and tried by the ordinary courts. The State party should also guarantee access for victims of human rights violations to effective remedies under ordinary law, including comprehensive redress, rehabilitation, measures of satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition. 27. The Subcommittee is concerned at the quality of the public defence provided to persons deprived of their liberty. Many people told the Subcommittee that their interview with the public defender prior to a hearing was very short or even that they had not met their legal counsel before entering the courtroom or just moments before the hearing began. Barring a few exceptions, the interviewees said that the public defenders had not asked them if they had been victims of torture or ill-treatment. When persons deprived of their liberty told their legal counsel that they had been victims of such violations, the public defenders paid the allegations little heed and advised against raising the issue during the court hearing or submitting any complaint. These persons also said that they had had no real opportunity to participate in the preliminary hearings, which were often conducted hastily, and that in fact the public defenders had recommended that they should remain silent. 28. Since the Subcommittee considers the Public Criminal Defender Service and the Attorney General’s Office to be institutions that play a critical role in the detection of torture and ill-treatment, the Subcommittee recommends that the State party: (a) Guarantee the availability, from the very outset of a person’s detention, of effective and appropriate assistance from the Public Criminal Defender Service and ensure that interviews with persons deprived of their liberty always take place in advance of court hearings and that they are of a sufficient duration and cover what is required in order to make certain that a proper defence can be provided and that instances of torture or ill-treatment are detected on a systematic basis; (b) Establish suitable standard operating procedures for the Public Criminal Defender Service and the Attorney General’s Office with a view to ensuring the proper detection and reporting of acts of torture and ill-treatment and the punishments of the perpetrators of such acts. The standard operating procedures should also ensure proper record-keeping on all cases identified or reported by victims; the corresponding records should include information on the prosecution of those cases and the decisions handed down; (c) Train all relevant justice officials to ensure the proper application of the Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Istanbul Protocol) at all times and at all stages of criminal proceedings. 29. The Subcommittee observed that both the Attorney General’s Office and the Public Criminal Defender Service make use of procedures that may promote self-incrimination, such as shortened or simplified arraignments. The practice of admitting guilt in the expectation of a lighter sentence that would open the way for an immediate or early release from custody gives rise to a paradoxical effect: such persons regain their freedom at the cost of accepting a sentence that, if they are arrested at a future date, may cause them to be remanded to pretrial detention or imprisoned. Prison overcrowding, which, in some of the facilities that were visited, which was most noticeably a problem in areas housing pretrial detainees, is another inducement for accused persons to choose to use plea bargaining procedures promoted by defence lawyers and the Attorney General’s Office so that they can regain their freedom. 30. The Subcommittee received numerous reports from persons deprived of their liberty in which they claimed that they had been pressured by public defenders and prosecutors into plea bargaining. In fact, the Subcommittee was apprised of a case in which an accused person was held in a police station by order of the prosecutor for more than seven days, supposedly so that the person could think over an offer that was dependent on an admission of guilt. 6 GE.17-07771