that steps be taken to eliminate inmate self-rule, which is occurring in many prisons and which increases the risk of acts of torture and cruel and inhuman treatment. The Subcommittee also recommends that training in torture prevention for personnel of the National Human Rights Commission and the state human rights commissions be strengthened. 289. In the light of the foregoing, the Subcommittee urges Mexico to compel all federal and state authorities to comply fully with the general and specific recommendations that the various state human rights commissions have issued in respect of individual complaints and general situations that may give rise to acts of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and recommendations aimed at ending impunity for the perpetrators of such acts. 290. With respect to public defence services, the Subcommittee recommends that steps be taken to accelerate those processes so that the situation of defencelessness in which the most vulnerable accused persons find themselves can be remedied as quickly as possible. 291. The Subcommittee recommends that the State party examine its public defence system and eliminate the constraints hindering the work of public defenders so that persons deprived of their liberty have a real opportunity to consult a public defender from the moment they are arrested and to exercise their right to defence and thus prevent or bring to light any instances of torture or ill-treatment. The Subcommittee recommends that the State party improve the quantity and quality of the services provided by public defenders in the various Mexican states and, in particular, that it ensure that they are able to function in a framework of independence and institutional autonomy. The Subcommittee further recommends that public defence databases be developed in order to keep records of instances of torture or other inhuman treatment reported or mentioned in confidence to public defenders by their clients. 292. Steps should be taken to ensure that an adequate number of public defenders are available 24 hours a day to respond in an effective, independent and timely manner and to provide legal assistance for people who require it from the moment they come under the custody or control of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. 3.Office of the Attorney-General and implementation of the Istanbul Protocol 293. The Subcommittee urges the State party, first, to promote and distribute widely among the professionals in charge of places of detention the content and information on best practices in the implementation of the Istanbul Protocol. In addition, the Subcommittee urges the State party to review current practice and training programmes with an eye to ensuring that medical and psychological opinions rendered in accordance with the Istanbul Protocol are used only for the purposes originally intended as clearly established under the Protocol itself, and are not used as grounds for asserting that victims have made false statements. The Subcommittee recommends strengthening the implementation of the Istanbul Protocol by ensuring independent, prompt and thorough investigations and by ensuring that the professionals who render medical and psychological opinions belong to forensic medicine institutes with demonstrated independence, and that independent expert testimony be admitted at relevant stages of legal proceedings in accordance with the applicable criteria for judicial examination. 4.Training as a torture prevention mechanism 294. The Subcommittee urges the State party to redouble its efforts in regard to appropriate training as a mechanism to prevent torture. Police training should have a preventive orientation. The Subcommittee also urges the authorities to review and update all police training programmes and courses at all levels in order to bring them into line with human rights principles and standards, ensuring a cross-cutting human rights approach and, in particular, ensuring that they are oriented towards preventing torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. C.Situation of persons deprived of their liberty 1.Torture complaints: statistics and actual situation 295. The Subcommittee recommends that the State party develop broad-based awareness campaigns on torture prevention, providing information on how and where to report cases, and that it take steps to improve and provide training in the classification and investigation of acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The Subcommittee further recommends that a national database be developed with cross-referenced information in order to systematize information on acts indicative of torture and ill treatment utilizing explicit information obtained from complaints submitted to public prosecutors, law enforcement agencies, state human rights commissions and medical and psychological reports. The latter, as recommended below, should include space to indicate the origin of injuries as reported by the person concerned, which should be properly channelled as plausible grounds for a complaint. 296. The Subcommittee encourages the State to maintain and strengthen measures to prevent acts of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Such measures should be part of a national public policy, which should recommend the creation of a centralized registry of reports of cases of torture or other inhuman treatment that includes, at a minimum, information on the date, the place, the method and techniques used in the alleged commission of such acts and information on the victims and alleged perpetrators. 2.Places of detention visited 297. The Subcommittee recommends that, in order to eliminate the risk of unnecessary detention and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, deprivation of liberty should be the last resort in cases involving administrative penalties or minor offences.