E/CN.4/2001/66/Add.2 page 16 on the list of juvenile detention places to be closed down in the near future since they had not been architecturally designed to hold minors. New guards (monitores) had reportedly to be hired and trained. Professionalism had been enhanced and was said to remain a primary objective of the FEBEM. But the treatment of juvenile offenders was said to have become a priority for the São Paulo authorities. It was explained to the Special Rapporteur that FEBEM treat juvenile offenders like adolescents rather than delinquents. The Secretary also expressed his hope for more non- or semi-custodial sentences. 42. The Special Rapporteur received information on the “Unidade de Atendimento Inicial” of São Paulo, commonly referred to as Braz, where all juvenile offenders are initially taken for screening before being transferred to a FEBEM unit. It was reported that some minors waited for weeks and even months in basic conditions of detention (which were shown to the Special Rapporteur on videotapes) for their sentence to be pronounced. Minors were said to be held half-naked, sitting in complete silence on the bare concrete floor with their hands behind their heads all day long. It was reported that minors are beaten by guards if they break the rule of silence. Beatings and humiliations were said to be common. 43. According to NGOs, three minors were beaten or tortured every day in facilities under the jurisdiction of FEBEM. Revolts and attempted escapes, which were said to be frequent, were reported to lead to excessive use of force, in particular severe beatings with wooden or iron bars and wires, by guards, often wearing masks or hoods, and special units called in to restore order. Beatings were also said to continue as reprisals or punishment during the nights following a revolt. It was believed that these beatings usually took place at night when technical assistants or outside visitors are not present. After revolts, inmates were also said to be locked up in punishment cells, which are built to hold one person, in groups of more than 12 for several days. Relatives of detainees were also said to have been denied access on several occasions, especially after alleged revolts. A large number of the detainees whom the Special Rapporteur met said that most of the time revolts were provoked by guards. It is reported that night-shift guards often arrive drunk or under the influence of drugs and randomly beat detainees. Minors are reportedly made to run through the so-called Polish corridor upon arrival in a new FEBEM detention facility. The Special Rapporteur received from NGOs a chronology of several alleged incidents of abuse since October 1999 in FEBEM institutions, some of which are reproduced in the annex. 44. On 24 August, the Special Rapporteur visited Franco da Rocha, a FEBEM institution situated on the outskirts of São Paulo where some 420 minors were currently detained. This institution, built in early 2000 and architecturally designed as a prison, had only been in operation since July 2000. It is divided into eight wings. Cells are organized around a courtyard where detainees were said by monitores to spend most of their time during the day. When the Special Rapporteur visited some of the wings, he noticed that a small number of detainees were indeed playing in the courtyard, but that most were locked in their cells. The Director of Franco da Rocha explained that since the revolt that had taken place on 10 August, some detainees had to be kept locked up 24 hours a day in their cells in order to maintain order and to re-establish the relationship between monitores and minors. They were all nevertheless said to be taken to a large room adjacent to the yard for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Detainees indicated to the Special Rapporteur that when the normal regime was applied they were let out of their cells for only half an hour to two hours a day.