Annual Report 2014 of the National Preventive Mechanism
ordered, their regular supervision and the material conditions in which they are
implemented, in addition to the policies for the use of physical and pharmacological
means of restraint
59. Any regulation having effects on the manner of carrying out a deprivation of
liberty necessarily implies a direct effect on fundamental rights. For that reason, it
should be demanded that such regulations, which are essential to establish the manner
in which to proceed in such cases, have a high ranking of law, avoiding their
regulation through instructions or circulars. Such instruments do not meet all the
requirements established for legal provisions, since they do not address citizens in
general but only the personnel involved, and the process for their preparation does not
respect the procedure and safeguards pertaining to the adoption of laws.
60. In view of the heterogeneous structure and size of the local police forces and the
need to ensure an impartial procedure for evaluation of the actions of the members of
the smaller police forces or the persons to which they report directly from a political
point of view, it would be advisable to establish unified inspection systems for the set
of personnel of these forces so that they are homologated in this respect with the large
national or autonomous community security forces. The Inspectorate of Security
Personnel and Services of the SES could be used as reference, as a theoretical model
with regard to operating issues.
61. If the responsibility for a person deprived of liberty must be transferred to a different
facility or corps, it should be required, in addition to the customary procedures of
action, that it be verified that the transferred person does not show signs of
having suffered ill-treatment either physical or mental, carrying out, in the case of
doubt, even if the person in question does not request this expressly, an immediate
medical examination permitting any irregularity to be detected.
62. In line with the suggestions of the SPT, it would be advisable for information
(notices, informative brochures, etc.) on the prohibition from torture and illtreatment, and on the manner in which and the person before whom to bring
complaints against these acts, visible to the public and easy to understand, to be
available at all facilities at which persons deprived of liberty are held.
63. Prevention is an essential factor in the battle against torture and ill-treatment. In this
respect, video-surveillance and video-recording play a relevant role in the
prevention of improper conduct by personnel providing services at places of deprivation
of liberty. In addition, in the case of complaints, they provide unequivocal evidence to
verify the accuracy of the claims. Although, as mentioned above, the installation of
these devices and the various facilities has increased, great disparity continues to be
observed as regards their use. These technical devices should be used at all facilities
where persons deprived of liberty may remain, although excluding certain areas such
as rooms for confidential interviews with lawyers or religious ministers, or for intimate of
family meetings, toilets and cells or rooms in mean- or long-term deprivation of liberty.
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