Annual Report 2012: Spain’s National Preventive Mechanism with the efficacy of the work performed by the health services, and finally, inmates whose medical checkup was expressly requested by the technicians from the Ombudsman Institution carrying out the visit. An investigation has been carried out on the treatment provided to inmates who have denounced ill-treatment by police officers Those inmates who complained of ill-treatment were physically examined Individual and group interviews have been held with the inmates The existing recordings were viewed, in order to check if complaints sent by inmates were true 68 48. During these multidisciplinary visits, an investigation was carried out on the treatment provided to those inmates who had been tried to be deported with­ out success, taking into account the complaints received at this Institution de­ nouncing that the interested persons had been the subject of alleged ill-treatment by the police. In the cases examined at the CIEs of Madrid and Valencia, inter­ views were held with inmates who were still interned and clinical histories were reviewed, but it was not possible to conclude, either because of the data included in those histories or due to the declarations of the interested persons themselves, that there had been any ill-treatment by police officers. At the Immigration Detention Centers visited, some inmates complained that they had been subject to ill-treatment. In those cases, in addition to viewing any recordings that may exist in this respect, physical exams of those involved were carried out by the external technical expert, subsequently reporting such actions to the relevant Department of the Ombudsman Institution so that it may assess the possibility of opening the appropriate investigation. 49. During the visits to the CIEs, besides the personal interviews held with some inmates, group interviews were also held with some inmates, who were given questionnaires regarding the prison regime and the treatment they received. Many of them declared that the rules of the center were not clear and were not respected; some of them declared that they felt unsafe at the center, in case of risks of illness or fire, as well as due to the treatment by certain officers or other inmates; as regards the means of restraint, the majority declared that isolation (temporal separation) was used for almost any reason; many considered that strip searches were humiliating, although the vast majority declared that they were conducted in a private place and that room searches were frequent and without their presence, not knowing if the officers needed authorization to carry them out; they also complained of the food, as well as the water temperature and the furniture. 50. In relation to the personal or room searches, during the visit to the CIE in Valencia the existing recordings were viewed in order to assess if the complaints of inmates on personal searches -where they declared that they were told to un­ dress upon being admitted at the center- and the complaints on room searches -where they said those were conducted every day-, were true or not. From the results of the investigation it may be concluded that the viewed searches were superficial, and only one case was detected where an inmate brought down his trousers a little bit. As regards the daily search of rooms, it was noticed that, in­ deed, when inmates left their rooms, the officers entered into them and remained inside only for a few seconds in order to check, as was reported, that all inmates had left. THE OMBUDSMAN OF SPAIN

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