28 authorities regarding the effectiveness of criminal prosecutions in combating crime and 88 impunity. 64. Similarly, the Inter-American Commission has received information indicating that in Costa Rica, over the 2008-2012 period, the occupancy rate within the prison system rose from 101% to 130.1% (in 2008, the system had an installed capacity for 8,140 inmates and the prison population totaled 8,225 people; in 2012, with an installed capacity for 9,803 inmates, the system was housing 12,916 people), with truly alarming levels of overcrowding reported at facilities such as CPI La Reforma (159%) and CPI San José (182%). One of the reasons offered for this increase in inmate numbers in recent years is the rising trend in the use of pretrial detention. Thus, Costa Rica’s numbers of pretrial detainees have grown at the following rate: 1,844 in 2007; 1,964 in 2008; 2,413 in 2009; 2,635 in 2010; 3,036 in 2011; and 3,264 in 2012, representing 89 24.78% of the total prison population that year. 65. In Ecuador, a total of 19,177 persons deprived of liberty was reported as of August 2012: 9,409 (49.1%) facing trial and 9,768 (50.1%) with a sentence, of the latter group, around 4,732 (48.4%) with an enforceable final judgment, accounting for 24.7% of the total prison population. Of the 17,615 male inmates, 25% were deprived of liberty for crimes against property, 21% for drug offenses, and 20% for crimes against persons; and, of the 1,562 women inmates, 61.3% were being held for drug offenses, 90 16% for crimes against property, and 10% for crimes against persons. According to the General Public Defender of Ecuador, reducing the frequency with which pretrial detention is used requires paying attention to the following lines of action: (a) giving priority to the use of alternative solutions and measures other than pretrial detention, (b) making proper use of precautionary measures, (c) pursuing strategic criminal prosecutions (of complex crimes), (d) ensuring the autonomy and institutional strengthening of the Public Defense Office, (e) introducing oral proceedings, and (f) codifying as a crime the persecution of innocent people. In the General Public Defender’s view, promoting criminal policy with all due guarantees requires greater 91 sagacity at the political and institutional levels. 88 On this point, see, in general: DPLF, Insufficient Judicial Independence, Distorted Pretrial Detention: The Cases of Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, 2013, pp. 65-113. 89 Office of the People’s Defender of Costa Rica, Annual Report 2012-2013, Report of the National Torture Prevention Mechanism, pp. 369-374 (statistics as of December 31, 2012). In addition, see alert bulletin titled: The Office of the People’s Defender of Costa Rica, the National Torture Prevention Mechanism and Public Defenders make a call of national alert due to the current situation of the national penitentiary system, October 3, 2012, addressed to Her Excellency the President of the Republic of Costa Rica. As early as 2008, the Committee against Torture had noted its concern regarding the prolonged duration of pretrial detention and the high number of pretrial detainees in Costa Rica. UN, Committee against Torture, Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties under Article 19 of the Convention, Conclusions and Recommendations of the Committee against Torture, Costa Rica, CAT/C/CRI/CO/2, published July 7, 2008, para. 5. 90 Response to the questionnaire for the IACHR’s thematic Report on Pretrial Detention in the Americas, Regional Foundation of Human Rights Advising (INREDH), November 1, 2012. Figures from: General Planning Coordination Office – Statistics, Ministry of Justice, Human Rights, and Worship. 91 IACHR Regional Meeting of Experts on Pretrial Detention, May 9 and 10, 2013, Presentation by Dr. Ernesto Pazmiño Granizo, available at: http://www.oas.org/es/cidh/ppl/actividades/prisionpreventiva.asp.