98. The Subcommittee recommends the creation of a central register in the Supreme Court, for recording cases of torture and other forms of institutional violence that are defined as offences, giving the date and probable location of the incident, institutions, possible victims and perpetrators, stage reached in the proceedings, courts involved and outcome of each case. 99.In its comments on the Subcommittee’s preliminary observations, the Ministry of Security suggested that the central register could be held at the Supreme Court, but that it should be shared with all justice officials. Office of the Public Defender 100.Free professional legal assistance is a mechanism that contributes to the prevention of torture and ill-treatment through the exercise of due process and the rights of the defence. In adversarial criminal proceedings it is essential to ensure effective equality of arms between the public defender and the prosecution and to establish procedural rules for argument. 101.The Subcommittee was informed of the budgetary and staffing constraints weighing upon the Office of the Public Defender. For example, the Subcommittee was told by Office officials that some public defenders have to deal with an average of 700 cases. The Subcommittee considers that such an excessive caseload is incompatible with the effective defence of persons deprived of their liberty. This view was confirmed in numerous interviews with persons deprived of their liberty, with various authorities and with representatives of civil society. Public defenders do not visit detainees in the vast majority of police stations, and most of the detainees who were interviewed claimed that they had not been given sufficient time to confer with their defender before appearing in court. 102.Most of the prison inmates interviewed said that they were unaware of the status of their cases, and that they had not spoken with their public defenders for months or years. All those interviewed said that their public defenders never entered the prison blocks to check on the conditions of detention. 103.The National Director of the Public Defender’s Office told the Subcommittee that the mere presence of defenders in police stations has reduced the incidence of abuse of detainees, which meant that it undoubtedly had a positive effect and should be maintained. However, it was also true that police officers often failed to understand why there were public defenders in police stations, and incidents of verbal abuse were common. Such incidents did not occur in the integrated centres. On the other hand, the legal basis for the permanent or nearly-permanent presence of public defenders at police stations was shaky, since their sphere of competence was judicial and did not cover detention for minor offences or under the Police and Harmonious Social Relations Act, which would be better dealt with by CONADEH. Despite this, public defenders did all they could to ensure that the rights of detainees were respected. 104.Notwithstanding these claims, the Subcommittee gained the impression that the presence of public defenders, in the few police stations where there was a presence, was purely formal, and that defenders did not really fulfil the technical role required by law. This confers a certain legitimacy on a situation that does not exclude ill-treatment, torture, and the extortion of money and other property from persons who are arbitrarily detained and held in inhuman and degrading conditions. 105.The National Director of the Public Defender’s Office confirmed to the Subcommittee that the majority of victims of torture and ill-treatment do not wish to file complaints for fear of reprisals. This places defenders in a difficult position, since they cannot take any legal action without the consent of their clients. In the Subcommittee’s view it would be good practice for the Public Defender’s Office to have a central register of information on cases of torture and ill-treatment, including information provided in confidence to public defenders by their clients, in which case it is recommended that details identifying the victims would be omitted. Such information would be useful in requesting and adopting appropriate preventive measures of various kinds, including urgent measures. 106. The Subcommittee considers that the right to counsel from the very outset of detention is a fundamental safeguard for the prevention of torture and ill-treatment. The Subcommittee emphasizes that the Office of the Public Defender should be functionally independent and financially autonomous. In view of the current situation of the Office of the Public Defender, the Subcommittee calls on the State to provide information on how it plans, within a framework of institutional independence and autonomy, to increase the human and financial resources of the Office to enable it to guarantee free, timely, effective and comprehensive legal assistance for all persons deprived of their liberty who require it, as from the moment of their detention. Integrated centres 107.Integrated centres were launched as part of the process of implementing a new criminal justice system based on the accusatorial model, so that police, prosecutors, defenders, judges and forensic physicians could all work together. The Subcommittee visited some of these centres and observed that, while they may seem in theory to constitute an improvement in terms of enhancing judicial oversight of the police in their investigative capacity and in their role as arresting and detaining authority, in reality the daily encounters of judicial officials in what one of them referred to as the “police house” has produced a certain degree of cultural shift in that institution. In the long run this weakens judicial and prosecutorial action that is supposed to safeguard legal guarantees. Similarly, while having forensic physicians work in a joint facility of this kind may expedite results, it seriously compromises the independence they require to do their work. It is clear that such an arrangement is a serious impediment to the conduct of thorough, confidential medical examinations. 108. The Subcommittee recommends that an urgent analysis should be undertaken of the way in which the integrated centres operate in practice by means of external and internal audits of the institutions involved, with a view to adopting legislative and administrative measures to ensure that the guarantees required to prevent torture are applied in practice. 109.In its response to the Subcommittee’s preliminary observations, the Office of the Attorney-General agreed with this recommendation. The Ministry of Security indicated that, apart from the internal and external audits recommended by the