A/HRC/4/40/Add.2
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The 24-hour limit for bringing an arrested person before a judge is generally respected. The
Office of the Ombudsman presents habeas corpus and amparo requests whenever it deems it
necessary, and the mayor duly rules on the habeas corpus cases that are submitted. A judicial
cooperation programme has been set up to strengthen institutions linked with the judiciary.
C. Example of the Virgilio Guerrero Youth Guidance Centre
59.
Another positive aspect noted by the Working Group relates to the application of the
Children’s and Youth Code. The prohibition of the detention of minors with adults is apparently
enforced at both detention centres and police cells, and the juvenile justice system functions
separately from the one for adults, with its own principles and standards. The delegation visited
the Virgilio Guerrero Youth Guidance Centre; it saw that minors were separated according to the
their trial status, and that the atmosphere was healthy and facilitated their rehabilitation and the
continuation of their studies. The Centre set an example that should be followed by the rest of
the country’s juvenile detention centres.
D. Detainees’ contact with their families and other arrangements
60.
During its visits to social rehabilitation centres the Working Group was able to see, in
some more than in others, that arrangements had been made by the prison authorities for
detainees to maintain contact with their families, thus ensuring the moral and emotional support
so important in the rehabilitation process. Through family visits detainees can be kept supplied
with food and toiletries that are in short supply because of a lack of appropriate budgetary
support.
61.
The detainees are also involved in organizing their daily schedules and can elect and take
part in committees that put forward their concerns and suggestions.
E. Government cooperation following the visit
62.
As is customary, at the end of its visit the Working Group held a meeting with
government representatives to inform them of its first impressions, and held a press conference.
The Working Group noted with satisfaction that the Government had begun to consider some of
the subjects of concern that it had expressed during the visit. Executive Decree No. 1339 of
20 April 2006 established the Citizen Safety Unit, with the aim of ensuring respect for the human
rights of detainees through the coordinated work of the National Police, the Office of the
Attorney-General, the judiciary, the Department of Social Rehabilitation, provincial and cantonal
councils and representatives of civil society.
63.
Another important aspect is also being addressed: the lack of resources for detention
centres. In Executive Decree No. 1330-A of 7 April 2006, the President declared a state of
emergency in prisons, which makes it possible to earmark extra resources to cover urgent needs
there. As a first step, 8 million United States dollars were appropriated to improve
infrastructures and basic services and to relieve overcrowding.
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