Annual Report 2014 of the National Preventive Mechanism
Concern is expressed with the cell locking devices observed in some of the visits,
which would not enable their fast opening in emergencies, which should be
corrected.
89. At certain visits suspicious objects have been found at the police facilities,
such as wooden sticks, baseball bats, imitation fire weapons or knives. These
objects, either because they were confiscated from the detainees and are to be
subsequently used as evidence, or because they are purely ornamental, should be
kept at a place especially reserved to deposit confiscated objects, away from the cells,
in the first case, and not on display in the second, both to avoid speculation on
incorrect conduct of the police and to eliminate potentially hazardous sources, both for
personnel and for detainees.
90. At many of the visits made to facilities of the CNP it has been observed, and this is
a reason for concern, that not all the public officers performing custody tasks are
duly identified. On asking about the reasons for such lack of identification, we have
received different answers, although many of them refer to the fact that the small
badges, on which the identification number is recorded, easily detach from the support.
Without evaluating the reasons for which the agents fail to wear their identification
badges, as is their obligation (Instruction 13/2007 of the SES: “This obligation is
defined as a right of citizens to identify, at all times and without any positive action of
demand on their part, the agents that are performing the relevant function or service,
and as a counterpart the duty of such agents to allow such identification”), the NPM
should like to point out that the responsible authorities should put in place the
measures necessary, including those of a disciplinary nature, for this obligation to be
duly performed.
91. The presence of female personnel should be ensured at custody facilities where
women are deprived of liberty. The presence of female and male personnel, as
contemplated by the CPT in paragraph 23 of its 10th General Report, may have a
beneficial effect as regards both the values of the custody and the encouragement of a
level of normality at the place of detention. Mixed personnel also permits an appropriate
workforce to face tasks in which gender is a determining factor, such as bodily searches.
92. Officers should avoid wearing their statutory weapon loaded at the cell area,
for the purposes of safety of the detainees and of the officers themselves.
93. Persons deprived of liberty should be ensured to have access to sufficient
adequate food, special diets for medical, creed or cultural reasons, and access to
drinking water at all times.
94. Attention should be brought to a series of health and safety matters in respect of
persons deprived of liberty. Although this is not frequent, complaints have been
received from detainees relating to delay in accessing the toilets, after they have
requested this from the officers. For that reason, persons deprived of liberty should be
afforded access to the toilets, without undue delay, at any time, and they should
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