CAT/C/75 page 36 “During the inspection of the Nuevo León social rehabilitation centre on 17 and 18 March 1999, several inmates complained (…) of beatings and ill-treatment on the part of security and custodial staff (…). They also said that the centre’s Director (…) had beaten them on several occasions or allowed security staff to do so. “Approximately 50 inmates made such complaints and the accounts they provided were clear, accurate and consistent. It should be borne in mind that the complaints were made despite constant close supervision by security staff and the fact that all the inspectors’ activities were being photographed and filmed, which prevented them from speaking confidentially with the inmates and interviewing a greater number of them. “The beatings and ill-treatment the inmates received consisted of “claps” over the ears, damaging their eardrums, and kicks and blows to various parts of their bodies; being undressed and kept in a freezing, air-conditioned room for days at a time; being handcuffed for days at a time, sometimes just the hands, at others both hands and feet, so that they had to eat out of a receptacle on the floor using their tongues alone and perform their bodily functions in the same place (…). “It may be concluded from the foregoing (…) based on an assessment of all the evidence gathered, that the inmates of the Nuevo León social rehabilitation centre, located in Apodaca, State of Nuevo León, are beaten, ill-treated and tortured by public servants working in that establishment.” V. LEGAL MECHANISMS OFFERING PROTECTION AGAINST TORTURE, AND HOW THEY OPERATE 166. Since its second session, in April 1989, the Committee has considered four reports in which the State party has detailed the many constitutional, legal and administrative provisions it has passed to discourage torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and to punish any public servants that may engage in them.30 167. During the period between then and the inquiry that is the subject of this report, the Committee has received from reliable sources accounts of widespread torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment inflicted on individuals deprived of their liberty, especially during the initial stages of judicial investigations. When considering its periodic reports, the Committee has pointed out to the State party the contrast between its legislation and the actual state of affairs related in those accounts. 168. In the conclusions and recommendations it put forward on finishing its consideration of the second report, the Committee voiced “deep concern that, according even to the official sources, an extremely large number of acts of torture of all kinds were perpetrated […] despite the existence of a legal and administrative structure designed to prevent and punish them”.31 169. On concluding its consideration of the third periodic report, it mentioned as a matter of concern that it had “received abundant reliable information stating that, despite the legal and administrative measures the Government has taken to eradicate torture [...] torture continues to be systematically practised in Mexico, particularly by the Federal and local judicial police and, recently, by members of the armed forces on the pretext of combating subversives. The