CAT/OP/BRA/2/Add.1 required to defend, in principle, the 73 per cent of the Brazilian population that, according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, cannot afford a lawyer. Consequently, measures to ensure the autonomy of these services, and provide for human, budgetary and physical resources, are crucial to guaranteeing the fulfilment of their important mission. 161. One of the important measures taken to strengthen the Brazilian Public Defender Service was Constitutional Amendment No. 45 of 2004, also known as the Judicial Reform, which guaranteed the functional and administrative autonomy of state defender services. Similarly, proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 358/05, which ensures the autonomy of the Public Defender Service at the federal level, is before National Congress. The proposal has already been approved by the Senate, but still needs to be adopted in the Chamber of Deputies. 162. Another major accomplishment was the adoption of Complementary Act No. 132, also known as the new Organic Act on the Public Defender Service, on 7 October 2009. The law was intended to organize, expand and modernize the role of the service, regulating it and giving it the possibility of working through special decentralized mechanisms, including in prisons. New functions of the Defender Service include encouraging out-ofcourt settlement of disputes through mediation and conciliation. 163. As to preventing and combating torture, the Defender Service was mandated under the Complementary Act to take action in police, prison and juvenile facilities to ensure that fundamental rights and freedoms can be fully exercised under any circumstances, and to take action to protect and restore the rights of victims of torture, sexual abuse, discrimination or any other form of oppression or violence and to promote follow-up and multidisciplinary support for victims. 164. An important step forward in this area was the promulgation of Act No. 12313 of 19 August 2010, amending Act No. 7210 of 11 July 1984 to include the Public Defender Service as part of the penal system, even providing for the establishment of special offices of the Public Defender Service to provide comprehensive legal aid, free of charge, to prisoners, convicted prisoners on parole and former prisoners, and members of their families, who lack the financial resources to hire a lawyer. The new law granted public defenders the right to freely enter police, prison and correctional facilities unannounced. This right undoubtedly acts as a deterrent to police and prison staff from engaging in torture, given that detainees could file a complaint with the help of a public defender at any time. 165. Between 2008 and 2011, the Federal Government invested over R$ 15 million in setting up 21 special legal aid centres for prisoners and members of their families26 as part of the state public defender services and in restructuring 17 legal aid offices for prisoners and members of their families within the Federal Public Defender Service,27 covering in all 19 states and the Federal District, and including Espírito Santo, Río de Janeiro and São Paulo. Investments in this area have benefited 390,000 individuals. 26 27 GE.14-42059 Nineteen special centres in the states of Acre, Alagoas, Bahia, Ceará, Federal District, Espírito Santo, Maranhão, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul, Pará, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio de Janeiro, Rondônia, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo, Sergipe and Tocantins, and two centres within the Federal Public Defender Service, for federal prisons: Catanduvas in Paraná and Mossoró in Rio Grande do Norte. Seventeen offices in Acre, Alagoas, Bahia, Ceará, Espírito Santo, Goiás, Minas Gerais, Pará, Pernambuco, Piauí, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo, Tocantins and the Federal District. 35