CAT/C/39/2
page 28
This delegacia also suffered from extreme overcrowding, having a capacity of 28 and
housing 215. In the past 259 were housed in the delegacia, a situation which had led to rioting.
Sixty per cent have been sentenced, the rest have not. Some detainees had been in this facility for
3 or 4 years. There were seven 4 by 4m cells with 28 and 38 prisoners. The food provided is
adequate in quantity, but of low calorific value. There is no medical treatment provided by the
State, but a volunteer provides partial care weekly. Judges come to this delegacia as part of their
training. Family visits are logistically difficult to arrange, but two are provided for monthly.
There are no bathroom facilities for visitors, which acts as a disincentive. Inmates are always
kept locked up, except during visits. The hygienic and sanitary conditions are appalling. There is
no treatment for addicts, and few family members can provide this. Many escape attempts occur.
Detainees sleep in shifts, never go out and are disciplined by gas and noise bombs. Detainees
wear uniforms of white T-shirts and blue trousers which are bought by families and appear
relatively content, despite the conditions, and on the day of the visit the delegado had arranged
for flu shots for inmates.
Rio de Janeiro
105. On 22 July 2005, the Committee members visited the 5th District Police Station in
Rio de Janeiro, which is an example of a delegacia legal, similar to the model of the delegacia
de policia participativa of São Paulo. The first delegacia legal opened in the State of
Rio de Janeiro in March 1999. The installations were also modern and clean. However, the
Committee members were surprised to see that there were two cells that were unlit and that the
police alleged they had forgotten there was someone inside the cells despite the fact that the cells
were locked.
106. On 23 July 2005, the Committee members visited the 59th District Police Station in
Duque de Caixas in Rio de Janeiro. This police station continues to accommodate a public jail
where 279 detainees are held, although it can only accommodate 250. At the time of the visit, no
date was envisaged to decommission the public jail of the police station. The Committee
members were informed that the delegacia also held sentenced prisoners, although these were
generally prisoners with short sentences. No activities were available to detainees, although
some of them worked as cleaners. Detainees were separated on the basis of the criminal gang
that they belonged to. For this reason, the number of detainees held in each cell varied. The
conditions of hygiene were deplorable and created serious health problems for the detainees. In
addition, there were persistent and generalized complaints regarding the bad quality of the food,
and the lack of medical assistance.
(c)
Pre-trial detention centres and prisons
107. The Penal Code provides for different types of penitentiary regimes: closed, semi-open and
open regime in articles 34, 35 and 36, respectively. The Committee members observed that
separation of inmates on the basis of the nature of the regime to which they had been sentenced
(open/semi-open of closed regime) is not always respected. Those held for violent crimes are
sometimes held with petty criminals. The penitentiary authorities in at least one state attempt to
separate prisoners depending on the criminal gang to which they belong. Although this is an
attempt to prevent inter-prisoner violence, a number of detainees expressed their fears of
suffering attacks from other prisoners. Moreover, it is frequently alleged that the poor and
inhuman prison conditions create a situation where prisons turn into “schools for crime”.
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