A/HRC/4/40/Add.2 page 12 provincial or cantonal prisons. Those sentenced to reclusión, be it reclusión mayor or menor, must be sent to social rehabilitation centres, which exist in practically all provinces. Minors must be held at youth guidance centres, such as the Virgilio Guerrero Youth Guidance Centre in Quito. 48. Sentences for minor offences, which range from fines of 2-28 United States dollars to prison terms of one-seven days, are supposed to be served at parish and cantonal prisons, or in their absence, at provincial prisons (article 609 of the Criminal Code). In practice, they are served at police stations. Minors over 7 years of age who are guilty of offences must immediately be transferred to the Prosecutor for Juvenile Offenders. People who are unable to pay fines, those responsible for traffic accidents and undocumented foreigners too are held in police cells. 49. At the time of the Working Group’s visit, the total number of persons deprived of their liberty in Ecuador was 12,693. In October 2005, it had been 10,721 (of whom 6,831 were in pretrial detention or detención en firme and 3,890 were serving sentences). Time spent in pretrial detention or detención en firme is usually counted toward the total duration of the sentence. 50. During the visit, the Working Group noted that some high-security cell blocks had been placed under the supervision of the Judicial Police. The Judicial Police’s Narcotics Squad also supervises detention centres holding persons accused of offences related to drug trafficking. Detention of minors 51. In 1990, Ecuador was the first Latin American country to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Following a drafting process and consultations in which over 18,000 people took part, the new Children’s and Youth Code entered into force on 3 July 2003. The Code establishes that minors of 12 years and under who have committed a criminal offence are not to be put on trial, and that protection measures should be applied to them. Teenagers are subject to social and educational measures, and are only to be incarcerated in extreme cases. The Code also establishes a juvenile justice system in the judiciary, centred upon the office of the juvenile judge. 52. Once a teenager is arrested, the police must immediately inform the Prosecutor for Juvenile Offenders of the detention. If the Prosecutor so requires, the competent judge may order the minor’s detention for 24 hours. Such detention may be extended to ensure that the minor appears at the preliminary hearing. Lastly, pretrial detention may be ordered for a maximum of 90 days in order to ensure that the minor appears at the trial. Once that time has lapsed, the warden of the detention facility must immediately release the minor, without waiting for a new order from the judge, under pain of dismissal. The minor must await the verdict while living at home, except in cases where the family is unable to provide accommodation or where there are situations of domestic violence. 53. The maximum time that a minor may spend serving a sentence is four years. If the minor turns 18 during that time, the sentence is served out at the juvenile detention centre. Under no circumstances may a minor be detained with adults.