90
3.
4.
Guarantee the effectiveness and undetachable nature of the action of
habeas corpus and adopt any measures needed to ensure that it
constitutes in practice an effective safeguard of liberty, life, and physical
and mental integrity, in order to prevent torture or other cruel, inhuman
or degrading punishment or treatment. Judges must take full advantage
of the possibilities provided for by law in respect of this procedure. In
particular, they should endeavor to interview detainees and ascertain
their physical condition.
Punish authorities who deny detaining persons in their custody who have
been deprived of their liberty or who knowingly give false information
regarding their whereabouts.
5.
Eliminate the practice of mass arrests without a prior court order and
without people being caught in flagrante delicto.
6.
Endow public defenders’ offices with sufficient funding and personnel, in
such a way as to enhance their operating capacity and ability to provide
legal assistance to anyone deprived of liberty as soon as he or she is
detained and before the detainee makes a statement; to act effectively
to verify the legality of the detention; and to act according to law when
they observe harm done to a detainee’s physical or mental integrity.
261.
With regard to the admission, registration and initial medical examination
of persons deprived of their liberty, the IACHR makes the following recommendations:
Admission and registration
1.
Inform anyone admitted to a place of deprivation of liberty of his or her
duties, rights, and how to exercise them. In particular, persons deprived
of liberty must be informed of their right to contact another person.
2.
Ensure that records are kept of all admissions of persons into places of
deprivation of liberty and train the personnel working in such places in
the appropriate and consistent handling of those records. Mechanisms
should be established to verify and supervise management of said
records.
3.
Keep complete and transparent records in all detention centers,
indicating the legal grounds for detention. In particular, police stations
must have a single registry containing all relevant information on each
person held on police premises, certification of the duration of each
phase of each detention, and certification by a competent authority of
any transfer of the detainee.
4.
Implement and guarantee the operating capacity of a centralized registry
containing, inter alia, the total number of detainees, the reason for their
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