CAT/OP/BOL/3 persons with a different language, culture and world view from the rest of the population and often reproduce patterns of discrimination. Moreover, custodial sentences are virtually unknown in the indigenous justice system; hence the Subcommittee’s jurisprudence states that “for many indigenous persons, imprisonment constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment”.28 109. The Subcommittee is troubled by reports of excessive use of force and allegations of torture in the context of social protests such as the march held to defend the Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory in September 2011. The Subcommittee is also concerned by the lack of progress in the Public Prosecution Service’s investigation into related human rights violations, including torture. 110. The Subcommittee urges the State party to expedite the implementation of the indigenous justice system in order to relieve pressure on the judicial and prison systems and guarantee effective access to justice for all Bolivians. It also urges the State party to strengthen the pluralistic justice system in accordance with the Constitution. 111. The Subcommittee recommends that the State party: (a) Ensure that due process rights are upheld, including, in particular, the right of indigenous persons to a defence and to information concerning their detention and their right to use their own language; (b) Take into account the culture and the economic and employment situation of indigenous persons when ordering precautionary measures; (c) Conduct an independent and impartial investigation into allegations of torture in the context of social protests while protecting witnesses and victims. B. Women 112. In the course of the Subcommittee’s visits to the Trinidad Women’s Prison in Beni, San Sebastián Women’s Prison in Cochabamba and the women’s sections of Palmasola Prison in Santa Cruz and San Roque Prison in Sucre, it heard reports of physical illtreatment by the police at the time of some detainees’ arrests. The Subcommittee regrets that a medical examination is not conducted upon a detainee’s arrival, since this means that physical abuse occurring prior to admission cannot be documented or investigated. 113. The Subcommittee is concerned about: (a) The disproportionate impact of Act No. 1008, whose provisions are most frequently applied to women. The Subcommittee was informed that the number of female prisoners has multiplied in recent years; (b) The consequences of pretrial detention, which affects women disproportionately because of its serious psychological impact on mothers with children in their care. The Subcommittee was informed that, in La Paz, 78.2 per cent of female prisoners are awaiting trial, which is a significantly higher figure than the percentage of male prisoners in pretrial detention (70 per cent); (c) Prison records do not provide specific information on women deprived of their liberty who are mothers, children who are living with their mothers in prison or women prisoners who are pregnant or nursing babies; (d) The overnight confinement regime at the Trinidad Women’s Prison, which applies even to women with children and does not permit them to visit the toilet or to access emergency exits; (e) The lack of gynaecological care, especially for pregnant women, and the lack of feminine hygiene products, which obliges women either to buy their own products or to depend on the charity of fellow detainees. 28 GE.18-12272 CAT/C/50/2, párr. 93. 19

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