custody not only takes place in inhuman and degrading conditions, it also fails to meet the minimum due process requirements — a hearing before a judge, technical defence and right of review — and there is no guarantee of oversight but rather the procedure is “self-regulated” by police who work in a climate of widespread abuse. 121.The Subcommittee also noted that the police tend to use the full 24 hours allowed, in an apparent insistence on using this form of detention to punish those being held, or as a means of preventing breaches of the peace, for instance on the eve of festivities. It is also common practice to exceed the 24-hour limit, or count it from the time of arrival at the police station instead of from the time of arrest. 122.The Special Attorney for Human Rights of Tegucigalpa submitted to the Subcommittee a letter dated 29 February 2008 to the Minister of Security, in which she expressed her concern at the way police officers carried out arrests, certain procedural irregularities and the way the penalties under the Police and Harmonious Social Relations Act were applied, as follows. 123.“In the course of our investigations, periodic inspections of detention centres and training days, we have noted bad practice in procedures for detention under the Police and Harmonious Social Relations Act, consisting of mass arrests of citizens on grounds such as failure to show identity documents or alleged vagrancy, neither of which are established as offences in the Criminal Code or the Police and Harmonious Social Relations Act. This amounts to a flagrant violation of article 98 of the Constitution, which states that ‘no one may be detained, arrested or imprisoned for obligations which do not arise from a crime or offence’ and lists the specific cases in which the right to freedom can legally be limited (…). The Office of the Special Attorney for Human Rights has also noted the systematic violation of due process for citizens who are detained or arrested, insofar as conciliation judges attached to your Ministry are neglecting to follow the administrative procedures set forth in article 154 of the Police and Harmonious Social Relations Act, which stipulates that ‘any corrective or punitive measures must be imposed through a reasoned written decision, issued after consideration of the arguments and evidence put forward by the offender during the oral or public hearing before a municipal court’. Failure to follow the procedure established in the Act is a violation of the right to due process under article 90 of the Constitution, article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and article 8 of the American Convention on Human Rights (…). In light of the foregoing, I request that immediate instructions be given to all officers of the Preventive Police, the Criminal Investigation Directorate and conciliation judges throughout Honduras to act at all times in strict compliance with constitutional provisions and the aforementioned human rights instruments, with the warning that if they fail to do so, they may be held liable under the provisions of criminal law.” 124.The Special Attorney expressed her concern to the Subcommittee with regard to this Act, which is the main gateway to detention. She believes that the main problem with the Act is that it gives the police the authority to qualify behaviour as “vagrancy” or “vice”. It also grants powers to conciliation judges, who are government officials reporting to the chief inspector of police and with no means of opposing detention. 125.The Subcommittee concludes that the Police and Harmonious Social Relations Act and institutional practices have entrenched a recognized and substantiated acceptance, on the part of bodies that ought to be ensuring respect for human rights, of legal norms that are riddled with vagueness and ambiguity, or of a particular interpretation or application of those norms. This leads to abuses by the Preventive Police and places detainees in a vulnerable position, conducive to the use of torture and ill-treatment. 126.In its response to the Subcommittee’s preliminary observations, the Office of the Attorney-General suggested implementing training programmes, which should also be extended to the Office of the Public Defender, on the proper understanding and application of the Act. Regarding the application of the Act to situations linked to the events of 28 June 2009, the Office of the Attorney-General found that the Subcommittee’s assertion, reflected in the preceding paragraph, that there is a general climate of impunity, was exaggerated. It also rejected the insinuation (sic) that there was a “State policy” or “inter-institutional consent” on the detention of protesters. 127. With regard to the Police and Harmonious Social Relations Act the Subcommittee recommends that: The law be amended to ensure that offences liable to police custody are properly defined in accordance with criminal law and to ensure due process of law in all circumstances without exception Senior police authorities, judicial authorities (judges and public defenders), representatives of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and representatives of the Office of the National Commissioner for Human Rights order whatever measures they deem to be necessary within their areas of competence to halt the routine and widespread exercise of police powers in a manner that violates fundamental rights Regulations be introduced governing official registers in police stations to ensure that they contain full and detailed information regarding every case of police custody A central computer-based register be created as a matter of urgency at the Ministry of Security, containing information concerning persons detained under the above-mentioned Act (date and time of arrival and departure, reason for detention and police officers involved) and providing the possibility of producing reliable and transparent statistical data 128.In its response to the Subcommittee’s preliminary observations, the Office of the Attorney-General agreed with these recommendations. 129.With regard to the recommendation for the creation of a register, the Ministry of Security stated that, since 1998, it has been operating a computer system known as NACMIS, which keeps detailed records of detentions. However, owing to economic and technical constraints, it has not been possible to make it available to police stations online. The information is, nonetheless, recorded manually at head office.