Many mental-health professionals whom the Subcommittee interviewed did not clearly understand the provisions of the Act. The explanations they gave to the Subcommittee regarding its actual implementation were confused and even contradictory. 96. The Subcommittee recommends that the adoption of the relevant enabling legislation be speeded up to ensure the proper application of the new Act. An important component of this legislation, which should be drawn up expeditiously, is the “Review Board”, which is responsible for monitoring the status of admissions. 97.The Subcommittee is concerned about the lack of intermediate centres to provide gradual social support pending final discharge from an establishment. As a result, many psychiatric hospital patients are not there to receive treatment, but because the hospitals to a large extent operate as social welfare centres for persons without resources or a family to support them. 98. The Subcommittee recommends the adoption of measures such as the establishment of “half-way houses”, to ensure that patients do not remain in psychiatric hospitals for socioeconomic rather than medical reasons. 99.The Subcommittee found shortcomings in the maintenance of the mental health-care centres it visited. The situation in the Borda Interdisciplinary Psychiatric Care Hospital is of particular concern owing to the woeful state of the building. The admissions area and sections set aside for doctors and duty staff are extremely decrepit. Cuts in gas supplies have been a frequent occurrence for more than a year in many sections and the bathroom areas have been left in a state of complete abandon. Staff members reported that food given to patients was insufficient and of extremely poor quality. The furniture and bed linen were also threadbare. The fact that the land occupied by the Borda hospital is considered ideal for the building of a community centre, making its closure appear likely, may well go part of the way to explaining the little or total lack of interest shown in improving its facilities and equipment and the reigning sense of ill-ease about possible job losses if it does close. There was a similar situation of disrepair at the Moyano hospital. 100.Other major problems include staff shortages and the lack of activities planned for patients. There are too few doctors, psychologists and occupational therapists. Nurses often have to cope with a great many patients and it was reported that patients were sometimes left to their own devices. The Subcommittee was informed that doctors do less than half a full day’s work and that at the Borda hospital, 90 per cent of staff are present only in the mornings. It was also alleged that, because of the lack of staff, excessive medication was used to keep patients under control. 101.The Subcommittee visited Central I prison hospital in Ezeiza, where the PRISMA programme is being implemented. Under this programme, while medical care is provided by outside staff, keeping order and security is the responsibility of prison staff who, according to the information received, do not hesitate to resort to physical means of constraint such as tying patients to their bed, or the use of threats and beating. The fear felt by some of the detainees interviewed by the Subcommittee was palpable. One of them showed a scar on his neck caused by a rope when he had tried to hang himself because of ill-treatment by the security staff. Another patient said he had been beaten up by the guards who claimed he had insulted them, leaving boot marks. He had filed a complaint about the incident. 102. The Subcommittee recommends that the State carry out an investigation into the treatment by prison staff of detainees receiving psychiatric care. The State should also ensure that prison staff are properly trained to work with this category of detainee. IV.Investigations dealing with torture and ill-treatment 103.The Subcommittee found a considerable discrepancy between the statistics on the number of cases of torture reported and actually investigated by the courts and those in the databases of public inspection bodies, such as the Office of the Ombudsman for the Prison System or other institutions concerned with access to justice, including the Public Criminal Defence Service at the federal level and some provincial Public Defender’s Offices, such as that of Buenos Aires. The same is true of other records, such as those of the Committee Against Torture of the Buenos Aires Provincial Memory Commission. This important oversight function, which relies on visits, and is complementary to the Subcommittee’s preventive remit, should be reinforced and not threatened by budgetary or other cutbacks that might undermine the work of preventing and protecting persons from torture and ill-treatment. The Subcommittee attaches great importance to the task of gathering data and registering cases of torture and ill-treatment. However, it believes that the above-mentioned bodies should also endeavour to reinforce institutional control mechanisms, including judicial mechanisms, with a view to improving prevention and reducing impunity. 104.The Subcommittee received a wealth of information both from authorities and civil-society organizations, concerning failure to investigate cases of torture and the impunity to which this gives rise. Impediments to the investigation of cases of torture include: The lack of administrative or judicial complaints in prisons owing to the victims’ fear of being exposed to reprisals. Officials from the Public Legal Service said that they experienced considerable difficulty in gathering evidence for this reason. They said that victims sometimes file complaints but then fail to confirm them and that the prison codes prevent inmates from filing complaints confidently; The lack of effective legal representation for victims in criminal proceedings; The failure of prosecutors to follow a protocol on investigations into cases of torture, despite the fact that the protocol was issued by National Directorate of Prosecution Services; The lack of a systematic approach to investigations capable of dismantling the network of perpetrators within both the police and the prison service, who use torture and ill-treatment as a means of extortion to obtain financial or other benefits; The limited role actually played by the judges responsible for the enforcement of penalties, notwithstanding the provisions of article 25, paragraph 3 of the Buenos Aires Code of Criminal Procedure, which vests them with responsibility for monitoring the treatment