A/69/44 (e) Ensure that injuries observed during the medical screening of prisoners upon admission or thereafter by medical staff are fully recorded, including information on the consistency between the allegations made and the injuries observed. Whenever injuries are indicative of ill-treatment, a report should be promptly sent by the medical staff to the supervisory judge, the prosecutor and the prison inspection services. Complaints mechanisms (10) The Committee notes the different internal and external inspection services of the police and prison administration competent to receive complaints and carry out disciplinary investigations on ill-treatment and the lack of clarity this may create when lodging a complaint. As regards criminal complaints, the Committee is also concerned by instances in which the police have refused to provide proof of the registered complaint to the person submitting it (arts. 12, 13 and 16). The State party should establish a central mechanism to receive complaints of torture or ill-treatment, and should ensure that such a mechanism is accessible to all places of detention, especially prisons. Individuals alleging ill-treatment should be able to know exactly to whom they should address their complaint and should be duly informed of the action taken on their complaint. The State party should also ensure that the complainant is protected against all ill-treatment or intimidation that may arise as a consequence of his complaint. A centralized register of complaints of torture and illtreatment should be kept that includes information on the corresponding investigations, trials and criminal or disciplinary penalties imposed. The existing inspection bodies, including the supervisory judge and the Ombudsman, should be provided with the resources necessary to strengthen their monitoring functions, including in forensic psychiatric hospitals. Conditions of detention (11) While acknowledging the State party’s efforts to increase the capacity of penal institutions, the Committee remains concerned at the current overpopulation of 115 per cent. The Committee takes into account, in this regard, that about 20 per cent of the prison population is in pretrial detention, and regrets the lack of information on the average pretrial detention time. The Committee regrets, furthermore, that prison facilities, such as the psychiatric hospital at Santa Cruz do Bispo Prison or the Lisbon Central Prison, continue to operate in deplorable conditions. The Committee also notes with concern that the placement of prisoners in high security units is, in practice, routinely prolonged without informing the prisoners of the reasons for an extension. The Committee expresses its concern at the high rates of deaths in custody, especially suicide, among inmates, the insufficient capacity of in-patient psychiatric wards to accommodate prisoners with serious mental illnesses, and the lack of staff and rehabilitative activities in forensic psychiatric hospitals, as well as the use of restraints (arts. 2, 11 and 16). The State party should intensify its efforts to bring the conditions of detention in places of deprivation of liberty into line with the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, in particular by: (a) Stepping up its efforts to reduce overcrowding, particularly through the wider application of non-custodial measures as an alternative to imprisonment, in the light of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures (the Tokyo Rules); (b) Avoiding long periods of pretrial detention and ensuring that pretrial detainees receive a fair trial without undue delay; GE.14-12596 75

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