15
43.
Consideration is also given to the reports issued as part of the monitoring
by the Human Rights Committee (hereinafter also “HRC”) and the Committee against
Torture (hereinafter also “CAT"), with respect to observance of the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, respectively.
44.
In addition, the information provided by different civil society
organizations which in recent years have presented more than 50 thematic hearings on
issues related to persons deprived of liberty, all of which has been taken into account. The
IACHR also takes note of the studies and reports prepared by specialized agencies such as
the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); the United Nations Development
Program (UNDP); the United Nations Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime
and the Treatment of Offenders (ILANUD); and the Department of Public Security of the
OAS; and other relevant current documents, such as those produced in the context of the
th
12 United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.
45.
In this report, the following terms are used:
(a)
“Detained person or detainee”: refers to any person deprived of liberty
except as a result of a conviction for an offence.
(b)
“Imprisoned person or prisoner”: refers to any person deprived of liberty
as the result of a conviction for an offence.
(c)
“Person deprived of liberty,” “prisoner,” or “inmates”: generically
understood as any person deprived of liberty in either of the aforementioned
situations; these terms refer broadly to persons subject to any form of
confinement or imprisonment.
(d)
“Arrest”: the act of apprehending a person for the alleged commission of
an offence or by the action of an authority.
(e)
“Detention center”: refers to all establishments for holding persons who
have not yet been criminally convicted.
(f)
“Penitentiary”, “prison”, “jail,” “penal center” or “center of
confinement”: refers to those establishments for holding persons provisionally or
preventively and those for holding prisoners who have been convicted.
(g)
“Penitentiary system”: refers to the institution entrusted with the
administration of the jails and the whole set of prison establishments.
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