94.During the visit, the delegation held a meeting in Mexico City with authorities from the municipality of León, Guanajuato, in order to receive direct information about the police training programmes and courses that have been the subject of videos widely circulated on the Internet, in which police officers from this municipality are shown being subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment as part of their “training”. 95.The delegation was not convinced by the explanations provided by the municipal authorities of León, Guanajuato, who stated that the events depicted had been simulation exercises. However, the Subcommittee would like to utilize this negative experience to urge the State party to redouble its efforts in regard to appropriate training as a mechanism to prevent torture. Police training should have a preventive orientation. The Subcommittee also urges the authorities to review and update all police training programmes and courses at all levels in order to bring them into line with human rights principles and standards, ensuring a cross-cutting human rights approach and, in particular, ensuring that they are oriented towards preventing torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. IV.Situation of persons deprived of their liberty A.Torture complaints: statistics and actual situation 96.Members of the delegation had the opportunity to hear and have access to information provided by various federal and state authorities regarding recent torture complaints. This information showed a downward trend in such complaints. Some of the reasons put forward to explain this phenomenon were the implementation of the Istanbul Protocol, greater internal and external controls in places of detention, the installation of cameras in detention facilities and efforts in the area of training. However, as noted above, the Subcommittee believes that the number of torture complaints is not, for various reasons, always a reliable indicator of the actual number of cases. 97.Statistics aside, on the basis of the evidence that the delegation heard, the members concluded that the actual number of cases of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment does not match the number of complaints submitted to human rights commissions and the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Members of the delegation also noted a lack of correlation between complaints submitted for such crimes and the findings of investigations. Possible explanations for this situation include: regulatory, interpretative and practical obstacles to the reception of complaints and the launching of preliminary investigations; incorrect initial classification of the acts reported, which are often defined as injury, abuse of authority or other offences that obscure the reality when it comes to investigating complaints of torture; hidden or uncertain figures on the number of torture cases, which stems from the tendency of victims not to report torture out of fear or because they lack confidence in the justice system; misuse of the medical and psychological opinions issued as part of the implementation of the Istanbul Protocol as evidence of false accusations when the complainant is not successful in proving torture; slow and ineffective investigations that delay the performance of urgent expert examinations; inadequate methodologies and deficient performance in the rendering of medical and psychological opinions in keeping with the standards of the Istanbul Protocol; and disinclination on the part of public prosecutors to take cognizance of and prosecute ex officio acts of torture. 98. The Subcommittee recommends that the State party develop broad-based awareness campaign s on torture prevention, providing information on how and where to report cases, and that it take steps to improve and provide training in the classification and investigation of acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The Subcommittee further recommends that a national database be developed with cross-referenced information in order to systematize information on acts indicative of torture and ill treatment utilizing explicit information obtained from complaints submitted to public prosecutors, law enforcement agencies, state human rights commissions and medical and psychological reports. The latter, as recommended below, should include space to indicate the origin of injuries as reported by the person concerned, which should be properly channelled as plausible grounds for a complaint. 99. The Subcommittee encourages the State to maintain and strengthen measures to prevent acts of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Such measures should be part of a national public policy, which should recommend the creation of a centralized registry of reports of cases of torture or other inhuman treatment that includes, at a minimum, information on the date, the place, the method and techniques used in the alleged commission of such acts and information on the victims and alleged perpetrators. B.Places of detention visited 1.Preventive police 100.The delegation examined conditions in municipal jails in various states during its visit to Mexico. Such establishments are the first authority that people come into contact with if they are detained for administrative infractions established under municipal regulations or ordinances. The Subcommittee wishes to make the following comments in relation to the delegation’s impressions of these places of detention. (a)The criminalization of poverty 101.The Subcommittee understands and respects jus puniendi, the sovereign right of States to punish persons who have been convicted by means of a trial. However, during its visit to the State party, delegation members observed that for the most common kinds of administrative infractions, which normally can be resolved through payment of a fine, people who were unable to pay the fine were often placed in temporary detention for up to 36 hours. The delegation also noted that most of the individuals detained were extremely poor and could not afford to pay the fines. The inability of poor offenders to pay puts them at risk of abuse and cruel treatment. The delegation noted with concern that there is a “criminalization of poverty” in relation to administrative infractions, since, according to the testimony heard, people who had the financial wherewithal to pay the required fines were not detained.