CAT/OP/CHL/1 Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules), to govern the use of force and the disciplinary sanctions applied by prison officers. This regulatory framework should also provide for the possibility of prison sentence reductions and parole. 41. The Subcommittee noted the existence and application of minimum-term life sentences and whole-life orders under which, only upon serving 20 or 40 years of those sentences, can persons deprived of their liberty be granted the prison privileges provided for in Decree-Law No. 321. 42. The Subcommittee recommends that, as part of the reform of prison legislation, systems of privileges, including parole, be brought into line with rule 95 of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) on humanitarian grounds so that cases involving lengthy sentences do not become a kind of advance death penalty. IV. Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment 43. The Subcommittee is concerned by the numerous reports it received from persons deprived of their liberty who claimed to have been subjected to torture or ill-treatment under a variety of circumstances. The Subcommittee was informed that such acts had taken place during arrests and searches, before and after persons deprived of their liberty were examined for injuries, and during transfers to and from Carabineros stations, investigative police stations and prisons. The Subcommittee also received reports of ill-treatment in the holding cells of the Santiago courthouse. The Subcommittee has received information on cases in which, following demonstrations or social protests, individuals were briefly deprived of their liberty in police stations without being registered or examined for injuries. 44. The forms of ill-treatment most frequently described to the Subcommittee were blows delivered with an open hand, a truncheon, the butt of a firearm, a knee or a foot, in some cases by several officers, even after the persons deprived of their liberty had been subdued and handcuffed. In other cases, the methods described included the prolonged use of handcuffs in various positions, the twisting of upper limbs, the use of irritant gas, deprivation of food and water and exposure to particularly cold temperatures for several hours. There were repeated claims that persons deprived of their liberty had been handcuffed with their hands behind their backs, sometimes overnight. These situations have also reportedly arisen in police vehicles and upon entering places of detention. 45. A number of persons reported cases of ill-treatment in police stations and other places of detention run by the Carabineros. These incidents have usually occurred in places where there are no surveillance cameras, such as bathrooms or storage spaces adjacent to detention areas. At one of the police stations visited by the Subcommittee, the delegation’s entry interrupted two cases of ill-treatment that were subsequently described in statements given by the persons concerned. The Subcommittee also found that persons being held in police stations were systematically immobilized with handcuffs that were put on more tightly than necessary, causing them pain and injury. 46. In the Santiago and Valdivia courthouses, the Subcommittee saw persons who were in the holding cells being placed in handcuffs and special vests for long periods of time prior to being transferred. At the Santiago facility, several persons had been held under those conditions for 24 hours or more. 47. On several occasions, allegations of recently committed acts of torture or illtreatment were corroborated by examinations carried out by the delegation’s doctor. 48. The Subcommittee learned of repeated and consistent allegations of various forms of ill-treatment being committed during prison searches conducted by prison officers. During searches, detainees are often subjected to verbal abuse, the destruction of their property and the use of irritant gas. Allegations were also received of particularly invasive body searches that were especially humiliating for women detainees and visitors. 8 GE.17-07771