and hygiene. However, they all also indicated that they lived in constant fear because they did not know, nor were they given any information about, where they would be taken after leaving the arraigo facility. The Subcommittee wishes to express its concern about this situation of instability and insecurity of people held under arraigo. 227.Members of the delegation were struck by the extreme security measures at the facility, including controls and restrictions followed at all times, especially considering that the persons in custody there have not yet been charged with any criminal offence. 228.Detainees at the Centro Nacional de Arraigo have many more restrictions on their liberty than any convicted prisoner in a prison. Detainees are even required to comply with certain rigid rules, such as not looking at anyone’s face or staring at the floor whenever they are being transferred to any place outside their cells. Avenida Cruz del Sur, Guadalajara (Jalisco) 229.The delegation also made two visits to a house where people are held under arraigo,located at 2750 Avenida Cruz del Sur in Guadalajara, Jalisco. Of all the arraigo detention facilities visited, this house made the most negative impression on the delegation, despite the fact that relatively few detainees were being held there. On the first visit to the house, after an unnecessary wait of nearly an hour before being allowed to enter, the delegation was not able to conduct interviews with any of the detainees, all of whom said that they did not want to talk to the delegation because everything “was fine and in order”, although the members of the delegation perceived a very tense atmosphere in the cell where they were being held. Members of the delegation were struck by the insistence of the people in charge of the facility that they should not interview the detainees at any time because it would be extremely dangerous to do so. During this first visit, a police officer or another official was present at all times and the delegation was therefore never able to ask the detainees privately, not even through the bars of the cell, whether they wished to make any statement in private. During the time that the delegation was in the house, heavily armed police and other officials were present continuously, and they were later joined by other authorities, who arrived after being notified of the delegation’s presence. Members of the delegation were struck by the role played by the doctor at this facility, who overstepped his normal function and essentially controlled the entire visit. For over an hour, this doctor suggested insistently that the delegation should visit a nearby hotel that also served as an arraigo detention facility, and even offered to arrange for the delegation’s transport to the hotel – all this so that the delegation would not interview the 12 people who were being held at the house on Avenida Cruz del Sur. 230.After spending more than an hour talking to the doctor and the guards, and hearing them repeatedly emphasize the danger of seeing and interviewing the detainees being held at the house, the delegation members were able to inspect the house. The entire time they were in the house, members of the delegation had the impression that the guards were trying to pressure them to leave. At no time were they told where the 12 detainees were being held, and the members of the delegation were left to discover the rooms of the house on their own, without any explanation. They were accompanied by heavily armed police officers throughout the visit. The house had two floors. On the ground floor, there was bathroom and a room that, according to the officials in charge of the house, was for female detainees. There were some magazines in the room, which the officials said had been there since the last time women had been detained in the house. However, during the time that the delegation members spent waiting outside the house, they saw a woman arrive and observed that the things she was carrying coincidentally included those same magazines. 231.At the front of the house there was a room with a television and two beds, where there were two police officers. There was also an empty garage. To the left of the entrance, on the ground floor, there was a sort of living room with a kitchen, a bathroom and the cell where the 12 detainees were being held. 232.The delegation members had the impression that during the time they spent waiting to be admitted to the house on Avenida Cruz del Sur, the detainees might have been warned not to make any statement. That suspicion was fully confirmed the following day, when the Subcommittee delegation returned to the house and was able to interview the 12 detainees, who stated openly — though they were obviously fearful — that the previous day the guards had warned them not to make any statement to members of the delegation or, if they did, to say that they were being treated in a respectful manner and had not suffered any threats or abuse. 233.The delegation noted that security conditions were extreme for these people. Many of the families of the people detained there were not aware of their current whereabouts, and according to confidential statements made to members of the delegation, the detainees had not had access to a lawyer. Some detainees reported that even their ability to tend to their personal hygiene needs was restricted. 234.This situation underscores the value and importance of keeping the Subcommittee visit agenda confidential and ensuring that visits are made without prior notice. The Subcommittee wishes to remind the State party that such situations of deprivation of liberty create a risk of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. 235.On the second visit, which took place the following day, gaining entry to the house was easier and the delegation was received with greater attention and openness than on the first visit. In confidential interviews conducted with the people detained at the house, the delegation confirmed that these people not only lived in inhuman conditions, but were also subject to many restrictions with regard to their personal integrity. They had not had access to legal counsel nor had their rights been explained to them. They were all held together in the same cell, and some detainees informed the delegation that when they had asked to be allowed to wash themselves, this right had been denied. At the time of the visit, the 11 detainees were housed in one cell with bunks. All these people decided to talk to members of the delegation and told them that they had been mistreated following their arrest. They explained that during interrogation they had been blindfolded and handcuffed. Some had even been subjected to “la bolsa” (asphyxiation using a plastic bag placed over the head). Most of these people had physical injuries that were consistent with the allegations made to the delegation. They all appeared extremely anxious. There were no records of any kind in this house. When members of the delegation asked to see records, the personnel in charge simply wrote the names of the detainees on a sheet of paper. 236.The Subcommittee is concerned that the most serious allegations of abuse that members of the delegation heard during their visit came from people being held under arraigo. The delegation was truly taken aback at the level of police brutality that delegation