Annual report 2011: Spain’s National Preventive Mechanism The interviews with detainees reveal a wide variety of situations. Different terms [“letrado” and “abogado”] continue to be used on forms Detainees at the Central Registry of Detainees in Madrid complained that their families had not been called It was repeated that written information on habeas corpus proceedings should be provided 60  be subjected to a visual search. However, at the CNP district station in Almería, the GC headquarters in Huelva, the Mossos d’Esquadra station in Girona and the Ertzaintza station in Irun (Gipuzkoa) it was observed that requests for legal counsel were met immediately. This question was put to detainees interviewed, and the replies varied substantially. Detainees interviewed at the GC barracks in Bollullos Par del Condado (Huelva) stated that “the duty lawyer I requested appeared almost immediately” and in the barracks at El Ejido (Almería) that “the lawyer came quickly”. Another detainee, who had been arrested at midnight, stated that he was not provided with legal counsel until the following morning. Detainees interviewed at the Central District National Police station in Madrid who had been arrested the previous afternoon stated that they had been read their rights but that a statement in the presence of legal counsel had not yet been taken from them. One of the detainees interviewed at the CNP Chamberí District station in Madrid reported that officers had questioned him prior to the taking of a formal statement, though they had informed him that he had the right to refuse to answer. He stated that he had been arrested at 7:25 and that a statement had been taken from him in the presence of a duty lawyer at 11:25 that same morning. In line with paragraph 468 of the Annual Report 2010, the criterion applied by the Ombudsman is that access to legal counsel in the period immediately following the commencement of deprivation of liberty is fundamental for the prevention of torture and mistreatment. 45.  Paragraph 476 of the Annual Report 2010 indicated that information for detainees should be provided in terms understandable to persons not familiar with legal terminology. In this regard, it was observed that the use of synonyms such as “letrado” and “abogado” continues to be widespread on the forms that inform detainees of their rights, with the exception of the GC establishments in Almería and Albacete. 46.  Some of the detainees interviewed at the Central Registry of Detainees in Madrid stated that their families had not been called from the police stations where they had originally been held, or that they themselves had not been informed of whether their families had been contacted, though they did not give the names of the specific establishments where they had originally been arrested. Some said that not knowing whether their families knew where they were had caused them great anxiety. One detainee stated “I asked them to call my mother but they didn’t call her either, and the poor woman couldn’t sleep and was worrying whether something had happened to me until my lawyer arrived and then they called her”. 47.  At almost all the establishments inspected the staff stated that they informed detainees verbally of their right to file for habeas corpus proceedings, as per SES Instruction 12/2007. However, with the exception of the CNP district stations in Castellón and Cuenca, this information was not given in writing to provide proof of its provision, as proposed in paragraph 476 of the Annual Report 2010 for all   THE OMBUDSMAN OF SPAIN