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Relatórios apresentados no quadro
do Conselho da Europa e Decisões do Comité de
Ministros sobre a Aplicação da Carta Social
Europeia
Copy of the letter
transmitting the CPT's report
Strasbourg, 20 December 1995
Dear Mr. Caetano da Silva,
In pursuance of Article 10, paragraph
1, of the European Convention for the prevention of torture
and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, I have the
honour to enclose herewith the report to the Government of
Portugal drawn up by the European Committee for the prevention
of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
(CPT) after its visit to Portugal from 14 to 26 May 1995.
The report was adopted by the CPT at its twenty-seventh meeting,
held from 4 to 7 December 1995.
I would draw your attention in particular
to paragraph 188 of the report, in which the CPT requests
the Portuguese authorities to provide an interim and a follow-up
report on action taken upon its report. The CPT would be grateful
if it were possible, in the event of the reports forwarded
being in Portuguese, for them to be accompanied by an English
or French translation.
I am at your entire disposal if you have
any questions concerning either the CPT's report or the future
procedure.
Finally, I would be grateful if you could
acknowledge receipt of this letter.
Yours faithfully,
Claude NICOLAY
President of the European Committee for
the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Mr João José Gomes Caetano
da Silva
Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros
Director de Serviços das Organizações
Politicas Internacionais
Direcção-Geral dos Assuntos Multilaterais
Largo do Rilvas
P - 1354 LISBOA Codex
Portugal
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Dates of the
visit and composition of the delegation
(1)
1. In pursuance of Article 7 of the
European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (hereafter referred
to as "the Convention") a delegation of the CPT
carried out a visit to Portugal from 14 to 26 May 1995.
The visit formed part of the CPT's programme of periodic
visits for 1995, and was the second periodic visit to Portugal
to be carried out by the Committee (the first having taken
place in January 1992 ).
2. The delegation consisted of the following
members of the CPT:
- Mr Claude NICOLAY, President of the
CPT (Head of the Delegation);
- Mr Constantin ECONOMIDES;
- Mrs Nadia GEVERS LEUVEN-LACHINSKY;
- Mrs Gisela PERREN-KLINGLER;
- Mr Leopoldo TORRES BOURSAULT.
It was assisted by:
- Mr Rodney MORGAN, Professor of Criminal
Justice, University of Bristol, United Kingdom (expert);
- Ms Silvia CAMILO (interpreter);
- Ms Sophie ENDERLIN (interpreter);
- Ms Melanie ROE (interpreter);
- Ms Kathryn TEIXEIRA DINIZ (interpreter).
The delegation was also accompanied
by the following members of the CPT's Secretariat:
- Mr Mark KELLY;
- Mr Jan MALINOWSKI.
B. Establishments
visited
3. The delegation visited the following
places of detention:
Police establishments
Judicial Police
- Serious Crime Squad at Avenida José
Malhoa, Lisbon;
- Headquarters at Rua S. Bento da Vitória,
Oporto.
Public Security Police
- Police Station at Avenida Movimento
Forças Armadas, Amadora;
- Police Station at Rua André
Resende, Benfica;
- Holding facilities at the Governo
Civil, Lisbon (follow-up visit);
- Police Station at Praça da
Alegria, Lisbon (follow-up visit);
- Divisional Headquarters at Rua de
Goa, Matosinhos;
- Holding facilities at Largo 1°
de Dezembro, Oporto;
- Police Station at Rua de Naulila,
Oporto;
- Police Station at Praça de
Infante D. Henrique, Oporto;
- Police Station at Praça Coronel
Pacheco, Oporto;
- Police Station at Largo dos Restauradores,
Seixal;
- Headquarters at Avenida Luisa Tódy,
Setúbal;
- Police Station at Avenida da República,
Vila Nova de Gaia.
National Republican Guard
- Rua Central Station, Lever;
- Headquarters at Avenida Jaime Cortesão,
Setúbal.
Prisons
- Judicial Police Prison, Lisbon (follow-up
visit);
- Judicial Police Prison, Oporto;
- Linhó Prison, Sintra (follow-up
visit);
- Oporto Prison (C Wing).
Detention Centres for minors
- Padre Antonio de Oliveira Re-education
Centre, Caxias;
- Observation and Social Action Centre,
Lisbon.
Other establishments
- San João de Deus Prison Hospital,
Caxias.
C. Consultations
held by the delegation
4. The delegation held consultations
with the national authorities and with representatives of
non-governmental organisations active in areas of concern
to the CPT. In addition, numerous meetings were held with
local officials in charge of the places visited.
A list of the authorities and organisations
with which the delegation held talks is set out in Appendix
II to this report.
D. Co-operation between
the CPT and the Portuguese authorities
5. The CPT's delegation was received
by the Minister for the Interior, Dr Manuel Joaquim Dias
Loureiro and the Minister for Justice, Dr Alvaro José
Brilhante Laborinho Lucio. Those meetings were conducted
in a spirit of full cooperation. The delegation also held
fruitful consultations with senior officials of those Ministries
and of the Ministries of Defence, Foreign Affairs and Health,
both during and at the end of the visit.
The delegation also had interesting
discussions with the Ombudsman, Dr José Menéres
Pimentel and a number of senior members of his staff, and
with the General Public Prosecutor of the Republic, Dr José
Narciso da Cunha Rodrigues.
6. With one exception, the delegation
received a very satisfactory reception from both management
and staff at the places of detention visited.
The exception occurred at the Public
Security Police holding facilities in Lisbon (at the Governo
Civil), where the Officer in charge refused to allow the
delegation to interview detainees in private, "on security
grounds". After a delay of more than 30 minutes, during
which the delegation was obliged to contact its liaison
officer at the Ministry of the Interior, the situation was
resolved and the delegation was able to interview the detainees
concerned. Such a delay was all the more surprising, given
that a CPT delegation had already visited the establishment
on two previous occasions (once during the first periodic
visit and once during the 1995 visit). Moreover, the Portuguese
authorities had been notified in advance of the CPT's intention
to visit the holding facilities.
Nonetheless, it should be highlighted
that, in general, the delegation found that management and
staff at local level were well informed about the CPT's
mandate and prepared to offer the delegation every facility
necessary for its work. The CPT is convinced that the timely
and appropriate dissemination of information on the Committee's
mandate to all relevant authorities contributed significantly
to the cooperation enjoyed by its delegation throughout
the visit to Portugal.
7. As regards cooperation in the context
of the ongoing dialogue between the Portuguese authorities
and the CPT, the Committee regrets that the follow-up report
in response to the its report on the first periodic visit
to Portugal in 1992 (which was due in October 1993) was
made available to the Committee (in Portuguese) only during
the course of the 1995 visit.
In consequence, the CPT was unable to
take into account the information set out in the follow-up
report during the preparation and carrying-out of its second
periodic visit. The CPT wishes to stress the importance
of the timely submission of both interim and follow-up reports
in the maintenance of a constructive on-going dialogue between
the Committee and Parties to the Convention.
Of course, it is also important that
the content of visit reports drawn up by the CPT are brought
to the attention of all the relevant authorities in an appropriate
form. In this respect, the Committee must point out that
the authorities in charge of certain places visited stated
that they had not been made aware of the CPT's findings
regarding their establishments as set out in the report
on its 1992 visit.
8. Finally, the CPT wishes to express
its appreciation for the assistance provided to its delegation
by Dr Mário Gomes Dias, Dra Teresa Cunha Rêgo,
and Dr Henrique Dias da Silva, the Government's liaison
officers in, respectively, the Ministries of the Interior,
Foreign Affairs and Justice.
II. FACTS FOUND DURING
THE VISIT AND ACTION PROPOSED
A. Police establishments
1. General information
9. As during the first periodic visit
to Portugal, the CPT's delegation visited police establishments
under the control of three distinct police forces: the Judicial
Police (Polícia Judiciária - PJ); the Public
Security Police (Polícia de Segurança Publica
- PSP) and the National Republican Guard (Guarda Nacional
Republicana - GNR).
10. The legislation and subsidiary rules
concerning the detention, treatment and questioning of persons
detained by the police were summarised in the report drawn
up after the CPT's first periodic visit (cf. CPT/Inf
(94) 9, paragraphs 10 and 11 and Appendix 3).
One important development has been the
insertion in the revised Criminal Code (which entered into
force on 1 October 1995) of the new offence of torture and
other cruel, degrading or inhuman treatment under the general
heading of crimes against humanity. The revised Code provides
for a penalty of up to sixteen years imprisonment for the
most serious cases. Further, it creates the offence of failure,
on the part of the hierarchical superior, to report such
conduct within three days of acquiring knowledge of its
commission.
The CPT welcomes this development.
2. Torture and
other forms of ill-treatment
a. introduction
11. In the course of its visit, the
CPT's delegation spoke to many persons about their experiences
while in police custody. Such persons were interviewed in
the police establishments visited and in the Judicial Police
Prisons in Lisbon and Oporto. The delegation also visited
Oporto Prison with the express purpose of speaking with
prisoners on remand about their treatment by the police.
12. A significant proportion of the
persons interviewed alleged that they had been ill-treated
while in police custody. As during the CPT's visit to Portugal
in 1992, the principal form of ill-treatment alleged was
physical assault (i.e. kicks and blows with fists, truncheons
or batons). Further, the delegation again heard a few allegations
that detained persons had been subjected to simultaneous
blows to both ears with telephone directories or beaten
on the soles of their feet (falaka).
Moreover, there were frequent allegations
about the excessive use of force (in particular, the infliction
of blows with batons) by police officers at the time of
arrest. A number of detainees also alleged that they had
been physically assaulted by members of the public, in the
presence of police officers who did not intervene to prevent
them being injured.
On examination by the delegation's doctors,
a number of the persons who alleged that they had been ill-treated
were found to display marks or conditions consistent with
their allegations.
13. It might be added that the existence
of such ill-treatment by the police was affirmed by representatives
of non-governmental organisations with which the delegation
held talks and supported by other information with which
it was supplied.
b. Public Security Police
14. A considerable number of persons
who were or had recently been detained by the Public Security
Police alleged that they had been ill-treated by police
officers from that force.
As an example, a person interviewed
at the Public Security Police holding facilities in Lisbon
alleged that some six hours earlier, shortly after his arrest,
he had been ill-treated by plainclothes police officers
in the PSP station at Rua André Resende, Benfica.
He alleged that, on his arrival there, he had been handcuffed
to a fellow detainee and made to sit on the floor of a garage.
He claimed that, while in that position, police officers
had struck them both repeatedly with a distinctive black
baton, which he described in some detail.
A medical examination revealed two elongated
marks across the back at shoulder-blade level, one of about
10 cm and the other of about 25 cm long, each of which were
some 2 cm wide; they were striped throughout their length
(red-white-red) and sensitive to the touch, although no
swelling was perceptible. Similar marks were observed on
the left shoulder (5 cm), on the lateral part of the upper
left arm over the caput humeri (3-4 cm), on the right lower
arm (10 cm) and on the left shin (4 cm). These findings
are fully consistent with the detainee's allegations that
he had been struck with a baton some six hours earlier.
15. The delegation heard a number of
other allegations of ill-treatment of detainees held at
the Benfica PSP station, including that of a minor who claimed
that, several months earlier, he had been detained there
overnight. He told the CPT's delegation that he and another
detainee had received kicks and baton blows while held in
a cell. Further, he claimed that he had witnessed his fellow
detainee being made to kneel on the shaft of a brown wooden
club with a heavy head, under which plainclothes officers
had obliged him to place his hands.
16. When the CPT's delegation visited
the premises occupied by plainclothes police officers at
Benfica police station, it found a black baton and a brown
club fitting the description given by the above-mentioned
detainees of the instruments allegedly used to inflict ill-treatment
(cf. paragraphs 14 and 15) . It also found several other
non-standard batons and a baseball bat, none of which were
labelled as evidence.
17. Unlabelled, non-standard clubs or
batons (quite unlike ordinary police truncheons) were found
in a number of other PSP establishments.
Particular reference should be made
to the display of weapons found in an office of the Justice
and Tax Department of the PSP in Amadora. The wall behind
a desk at which detainees were interviewed was adorned by
a substantial number of replica handguns, home-made batons
and nunchaku sticks (2)
crafted in metal and wood. In a corner of the same room,
the delegation found a 90 cm long club, fashioned from a
length of four phase industrial cable, from one end of which
the insulation had been stripped, allowing the metal wires
inside to be soldered together to form a very heavy head.
A similar collection of such objects
was seen by the delegation at Seixal PSP Station.
In both establishments (as in other
places where such items were found) the police officers
present provided divergent explanations for their presence.
Perhaps the most convincing explanation, given by a police
officer at Amadora, was that they provoked a certain degree
of respect from detainees.
18. Reference should also be made to
the information gathered by the delegation during its visit
to the PSP Station at Avenida da República, Vila
Nova de Gaia. Acting on suggestions from prisoners at Oporto
Judicial Police Prison and Oporto Prison, the delegation
chose to visit that establishment late on a Sunday evening.
Some five minutes after the delegation's arrival, a detained
person was brought into the station and handcuffed to a
bench in the reception area. Almost immediately, he began
loudly to complain that he had just been ill-treated by
one of the plainclothes officers present. Interviewed in
private, he alleged that, at the time of his detention,
he had been punched by that officer and then thrown to the
ground, where he was again punched while his arms were twisted
behind him.
19. On examination by one of the delegation's
doctors he displayed injuries including: a fresh 1 cm x
3 mm abrasion on the dorsal side of the knuckle on the little
finger of the right hand; a fresh abrasion, just less than
1cm round, on the lateral face of the olecranon, with some
gravel and clotted blood; further gravel-filled indentations
on the right side of the forehead and a 3 cm x 1 mm scratch.
The detainee claimed that these injuries had been sustained
when he was thrown to the ground.
He also displayed a number of injuries
which he claimed were the result of punches and of having
a foot placed on his neck: 2 bruises in the lower hairline,
paramedial - the first 1 cm x 1 mm and reddish, the second,
semi-spherical and centred upon a reddish spot - both bruises
lying within a larger area of reddish discoloration measuring
5 cm x 6-7 cm; a reddish 2 cm x 1 cm haematoma with 2 minor
skin abrasions on the front of the neck and pain on palpation
of the mid axillary area of the right flank at the level
of the lower 8th rib; pain on palpation of the proximal
sternocleidomastoid muscle, on the left side, behind the
angle of the mandibular, and pain on palpation of the soft
tissue on the angle of the left mandibular.
It should be added that following this
interview/examination, the police officer in charge of the
station decided to release the person concerned. No attempt
was made to explain the condition in which he had arrived
and no note was taken of the fact that he had complained
of police ill-treatment.
20. A few allegations were heard of
even more serious forms of ill-treatment by PSP officers.
Particular reference should be made
to an inmate interviewed in Oporto Prison, who alleged that,
several months earlier, he had been beaten on the soles
of his feet with a metal shower rod by police officers,
in the staff washroom at the Public Security Police station
at Rua de Naulila in Oporto. He claimed that, whilst ill-treating
him, the police officers had requested information about
criminal offences.
In view of the time which had elapsed
since the alleged ill-treatment and the prisoner's statement
that he no longer bore marks or had medical complaints,
he was not medically examined by the delegation's doctors.
Nevertheless, the delegation subsequently visited the PSP
station at Rua de Naulila (which had recently been redesignated
as a traffic police station and was no longer used to hold
detainees). It found that the staff washroom was located
in an area to which detainees would not normally have had
access and that its equipment included a number of metal
shower rods which could easily be removed from their sockets.
21. It should also be mentioned that,
in reports drawn up following inspection visits to nineteen
Public Security Police stations in the Lisbon area on 26/27
May and on 6/7 July 1995, the Ombudsman recorded a number
of complaints of ill-treatment of persons detained by the
PSP (cf. paragraph 65).
c. National Republican Guard
22. The delegation did not gather any
evidence of ill-treatment in either of the GNR establishments
which it visited. Nevertheless, a number of allegations
of rough treatment by GNR officers were made by persons
being held in the prisons visited.
Further, in two cases, the medical records
completed on reception at Oporto Prison recorded allegations
of ill-treatment by GNR officers and injuries which were
consistent with those allegations. In the first case, a
prisoner admitted in March 1993 alleged that he had been
struck by three officers at Carvalhos GNR Station. The accompanying
medical certificate recorded a peri-orbital ecchymosis of
the left eye and excoriations on the dorsum of the nose.
In the second case, a prisoner who had been held at Carvalhos
GNR Station in April 1994 alleged that he had been assaulted
by a named officer. The medical certificate recorded two
large haematomas (one of 15 cm and the other of 6-8 cm in
diameter) on his back, a wound on the left thigh and excoriations
on the left hand.
d. Judicial Police
23. The CPT's delegation heard comparatively
few allegations of ill-treatment by the Judicial Police;
however, a particularly grave allegation was heard concerning
the Serious Crime Squad (the DCCB) in Lisbon. A prisoner
interviewed by the delegation at Lisbon Judicial Police
Prison claimed that he had been questioned in the premises
of the DCCB between 15 and 17 February 1995. He stated that
during those interrogations he had been ill-treated on several
occasions, including through the infliction of blows to
the back of his calves with a baton.
The person concerned provided a detailed
description of the office where those events had allegedly
taken place and of an object he had seen there, which he
thought could have been used to ill-treat him (he was apparently
lying face down on the floor when the blows in question
were inflicted).
24. Notwithstanding the time which had
elapsed since the alleged ill-treatment had taken place,
on examination by one of the delegation's doctors, the prisoner
displayed sensitivity and solidity on palpation of the lateral
part of the right musculus gastrocnemius. This finding is
consistent with the prisoner's allegation.
25. The delegation was able to confirm
(from records held at the prison) that the above-mentioned
prisoner had indeed been in the custody of the DCCB between
the dates concerned. In the course of a subsequent visit
to the premises of the DCCB, the delegation saw an office,
the location and layout of which fitted perfectly the description
given by the prisoner. In that office it found a home-made
baton (a length of thick multi-strand electric cable folded
in two, with a slightly thinner electric cord tightly wound
around it) which closely corresponded with the prisoner's
description of the object which he had seen there.
26. The delegation expressed its concern
about the provenance of the above-mentioned baton at the
final meeting held with the Portuguese authorities on 26
May 1995. Subsequently, by letter of 30 May 1995, the Deputy
Director General of the Judicial Police forwarded documents
which purport to demonstrate that the baton concerned had
been seized by the police on 19 May 1995. The delegation
was concerned that this explanation could not account for
the fact that, on 16 May 1995, a detailed description of
such an object was provided by a person who, some three
months previously, had been held in the office in which
the above-mentioned baton was found.
The Head of the delegation wrote to
the Portuguese authorities on 16 June 1995, requesting that
a more detailed, independent, investigation be carried out
into the origin of the baton. In response, in early December
1995 the recently appointed Minister for Justice, Mr José
Vera Jardim, ordered an inquiry into the matter and requested
that the General Public Prosecutor of the Republic appoint
a public prosecutor to oversee the investigation. The CPT
would like to be informed at the earliest opportunity of
the findings of this investigation and of any further action
taken as a result.
e. assessment and proposals for further
action
27. In the report drawn up after the
first visit to Portugal, the CPT was led to conclude that
the ill-treatment of persons in police custody was a relatively
common phenomenon. In its interim report, the Portuguese
Ministry of the Interior characterised that conclusion as
"manifestly excessive" (cf. paragraph 6, first
sub-paragraph of the response).
Regrettably, in the light of both the
information gathered during the second periodic visit and
of the statistics about complaints of ill-treatment in recent
years provided by the Portuguese authorities in their follow-up
report, the CPT does not feel able to modify the above-mentioned
conclusion, especially insofar as the Public Security Police
is concerned. Indeed, the Committee feels that the Portuguese
authorities may well have underestimated the scale of the
problem of ill-treatment of persons deprived of their liberty
by the police.
Firm and unequivocal action is required
to address this situation.
28. The CPT recommends that senior
law enforcement officials be required to deliver to their
subordinates the clear message that the ill-treatment of
detained persons is not acceptable and will be dealt with
severely. In this context, the attention of police officers
should be drawn in particular to the new provisions of the
Criminal Code to which reference was made in paragraph 10.
29. As regards the allegations heard
of ill-treatment at the time of arrest, the CPT fully recognises
that the arrest of a suspect is often a hazardous task,
in particular if the person concerned resists and/or is
someone the officers concerned have good reason to believe
may be armed and dangerous. The circumstances of an arrest
may be such that injuries are sustained by the person concerned
(and possibly also by police officers), without this being
the result of an intention to inflict ill-treatment. However,
no more force than is reasonably necessary should be used
when effecting an arrest. Further, once arrested persons
have been brought under control, there can never be any
justification for them being struck by police officers.
Moreover, it is axiomatic that it would
be completely unacceptable for police officers not to intervene
if they witness a person whom they intend to detain being
assaulted by members of the public.
In the light of the information gathered
during the visit, the CPT recommends that police officers
be reminded of these precepts.
30. The CPT welcomes the efforts being
made in respect of the provision of suitable education on
human rights questions and of adequate professional training
of higher ranking police officers. However, the Committee
would stress that such education should be made available
to officers of all ranks and categories and should be ongoing
(cf. also paragraph 2 of the CPT's observations on the interim
report submitted by the Portuguese authorities).
Accordingly, the CPT wishes to reiterate
the following recommendations:
- that a very high priority be given
to human rights education and professional training - both
initial and ongoing - for police officers of all ranks and
categories. Experts not belonging to the police forces should
be involved in this education and training;
- that an aptitude for interpersonal
communication be a major factor in the process of recruiting
police officers and that, during the training of such officers,
considerable emphasis be placed on acquiring and developing
interpersonal communication skills.
31. Naturally, one of the most effective
means of preventing ill-treatment by public officials lies
in the diligent examination of all complaints of such treatment
and, where appropriate, the imposition of suitable penalties;
this will have a very strong dissuasive effect.
In this respect, the follow-up report
submitted by the Portuguese authorities in response to the
CPT's 1992 report clarifies that all forms of ill-treatment
inflicted by law enforcement officials acting in that capacity
are liable to prosecution, without requiring a formal complaint
from the victim. However, the CPT's delegation was told
by several persons who alleged ill-treatment by the police
that they had complained to the public prosecutor and/or
judge before whom they were brought about the way they had
been treated, but that he had displayed little interest
in the matter. This was allegedly the case even when the
detainee displayed severe bruising on visible parts of his
body.
The CPT presumes that it does not have
to recall the duties of public prosecutors and judges in
a State which accepts the principle of the rule of law.
As regards administrative/disciplinary
procedures applied in cases of alleged ill- treatment by
the police, the CPT would like to receive information
on these procedures, including full details of the guarantees
ensuring their objectivity.
32. The potential importance of the
role which could be played by doctors appointed to carry
out forensic tasks should also be emphasised. The findings
of such doctors will carry considerable weight in legal
and/or disciplinary proceedings; it is therefore essential
that they be closely involved in cases of alleged ill-treatment
by the police.
Reference should be made in this connection
to a meeting held between the delegation and the Director
of the Lisbon Institute of Forensic Medicine and the Head
of the Medico-Legal Clinic of the Institute. It transpired
from that meeting that forensic doctors are only occasionally
called upon to examine persons who allege that they have
been ill-treated by the police (some six cases during the
previous year).
The delegation was also told that there
is often a significant time-lag between the time of the
alleged ill-treatment and an order being issued by the competent
judge for a forensic examination to be performed. As a result,
any identifiable marks or injuries which might have been
attributable to ill-treatment will often have healed.
33. In the light of the above remarks,
the CPT recommends:
- that whenever a public prosecutor
or investigating judge receives a complaint of ill-treatment
by the police, or observes that someone brought before him
could have been a victim of ill-treatment, he should immediately
request a forensic medical examination of the person concerned
and bring the matter to the attention of the relevant public
prosecutor;
- that persons taken into police
custody who are subsequently released without being brought
before a public prosecutor or judge should be able independently
to solicit a medical examination/certificate from the relevant
forensic institute.
34. Finally, as regards the numerous
unlabelled weapons found by its delegation in areas in which
detained persons may be held or interrogated, the CPT
recommends that urgent steps be taken to ensure, (i) that
any weapons held on police premises as pieces of evidence
are properly labelled and held in a secure and centralised
location designed for that purpose, and (ii) that no other
non standard-issue weapons are held on police premises.
3. Material conditions
of detention
35. The general criteria employed by
the CPT vis-à-vis material conditions of detention
in establishments of law enforcement agencies should be
reiterated (cf. also paragraph 21 of the 1992 report). All
cells should be of a reasonable size for the number of persons
they are used to accommodate, and have adequate lighting
(i.e. sufficient to read by, sleeping periods excluded)
and ventilation; preferably, cells should enjoy natural
light. Further, cells should be equipped with a means of
rest (e.g. a fixed chair or bench), and persons obliged
to stay overnight in custody should be provided with a clean
mattress and clean blankets.
Persons in custody should be allowed
to comply with the needs of nature when necessary in clean
and decent conditions, and be offered adequate washing facilities.
They should have ready access to drinking water and be given
food at appropriate times, including at least one full meal
(i.e. something more substantial than a sandwich) every
day. Persons held for extended periods (24 hours or more)
should, as far as possible, be offered outdoor exercise
every day.
36. In its 1992 report, the CPT criticised
the material conditions of detention in several of the establishments
visited and recommended that the situation in those establishments
be reviewed. It also recommended that appropriate steps
be taken to ensure that the conditions of detention in all
police establishments meet the criteria set out above.
The CPT was pleased to note that both
information provided by the Portuguese authorities and the
findings of its delegation during the second periodic visit
show that genuine efforts are being made to improve conditions
of detention in police establishments.
37. Neither the PJ Headquarters at Rua
S. Bento da Vitória in Oporto nor the Serious Crime
Squad (DCCB) in Lisbon possessed cells or other detention
facilities. This did not present a problem in Oporto, because
the Headquarters were located directly above Oporto PJ Prison,
which accommodated, inter alia, persons required for questioning
by the Judicial Police (3) . However,
the DCCB in Lisbon did not have ready access to such a facility.
At the DCCB, the delegation was told
that, when an interrogation lasted until late in the evening,
the detainee concerned could be accommodated in a fully
equipped bed, in a room shared by police officers sleeping
on the premises overnight. However, some detainees met by
the delegation who said that they had been questioned at
night at the DCCB alleged that, during brief rest periods,
they had been handcuffed to an item of furniture. It should
be added that prison staff stated - and documentary evidence
gathered by the delegation confirmed - that detainees had
been returned from the DCCB to prison establishments in
the small hours of the morning (i.e. between 2 and 5 am).
In the view of the Committee, DCCB officers
should have access to secure temporary holding facilities,
thereby relieving them of the need to shackle persons to
benches or similar objects.
38. A follow-up visit was carried out
to the holding facilities of the PSP in Lisbon (at the Governo
Civil). The delegation was pleased to find that conditions
were markedly better than had been the case in 1992 - the
cells were clean and freshly-painted, their artificial lighting
had been upgraded and the ventilation system repaired. However,
two significant shortcomings remained - the lack of natural
light and the failure to provide mattresses to detainees
held overnight.
39. The equivalent PSP holding facilities
in Oporto (at Largo 1° de Dezembro) were also visited;
the establishment possessed five cells.
Two cells for men measured respectively
approximately 13 m²(with three beds) and 28 m²(with
five beds). Both were equipped with a sanitary annex containing
a wash basin and a lavatory. A cell for women measured some
11 m², contained three beds and provided similar conditions
of detention to the cells for men. A fourth cell contained
one bed, measured around 7 m² and was equipped with
a call system enabling detainees to attract attention should
they wish to use the nearby sanitary facilities (shower
and lavatory). The delegation was told that this cell could
be used to hold a detainee (of either sex) whom it was thought
inappropriate to place in a multiple occupancy cell. All
of these cells benefitted from reasonably good natural light
and artificial lighting, had adequate ventilation and were
equipped with mattresses and blankets. Nevertheless, it
should be said that all four were in a rather dilapidated
condition.
The fifth cell was in a distinctly better
state of repair and considerably cleaner. It measured some
14 m² and contained four beds, each fully equipped
with a mattress, sheets, pillow, pillowcase, blanket and
candlewick bedspread. A call system was in operation and
detainees were apparently released to use the aforementioned
sanitary facilities. This, the delegation was told by police
officers, was a cell for the "better-class persons"
(apparently including doctors, lawyers and teachers) who
occasionally passed through the premises. In the view of
the Committee, it would be highly desirable to seek to uphold
similar standards of maintenance and cleanliness throughout
the establishment.
40. There were two cells at the PSP
Divisional Headquarters at Rua de Goa, Matosinhos. They
both measured approximately 20 m² and one was equipped
with three and the other with four beds. Natural light and
artificial lighting appeared to be adequate, as did ventilation.
However, the cells were equipped with uncovered foam mattresses,
one of which had apparently been burnt by a detainee and
all of which were very dirty. The officer in charge of the
police station recognised that they were unhygienic and
represented a fire risk.
41. The two cells at the Setúbal
PSP Headquarters were of an adequate size (approximately
7.5 and 9 m²) for the use to which they were put (each
holding no more than two persons overnight). They were equipped
with a wooden-topped concrete plinth, a washbasin and a
partitioned lavatory. Artificial lighting was poor, though
the cells benefitted from some natural light, and ventilation
was acceptable. The delegation noted that blankets were
available; further, it was told that mattresses were provided
to persons detained overnight. One hour after having requested
to see them, the delegation observed a number of mattresses
being unloaded from a police van; it received assurances
that the four persons already in custody would each receive
a mattress.
It should be added that the cells were
exposed to the elements by large barred doors opening to
a covered part of an inner courtyard; an arrangement which
meant that they would become rather cold at night and during
the winter months. Moreover, they were not equipped with
a call system and, at night, no police officers were on
duty within earshot.
42. Material conditions of detention
at Benfica PSP Station were of a high standard. The two
cells, each measuring some 8.5 m², benefited from access
to natural light, and had good artificial light and ventilation.
They were equipped with a wash basin and a partitioned lavatory.
Regrettably, damage to the wash basin in one of the cells
(which had apparently been caused by a detainee) had also
left the other cell without running water.
Both cells were fitted with a sleeping
platform and blankets were available. Mattresses were not
supplied to detainees required to remain at Benfica PSP
Station overnight; however, such stays were apparently a
rare occurrence.
43. Seixal PSP Station possessed a cell
measuring some 6 m² which was equipped with two wooden
beds (with a mattress and blanket) and a lavatory. The CPT
wishes to emphasise that a cell of this size provides only
cramped overnight accommodation for two persons. Artificial
lighting was good and some natural light and ventilation
was provided by a window opening to an inner courtyard.
44. The CPT's delegation also visited
a total of six PSP stations (including the PSP station at
Praça da Alegria in Lisbon, first visited in 1992)
which were not equipped with detention facilities. The delegation
found that, in each of those establishments, persons taken
into custody were kept in the front entrance hallway, in
general handcuffed to a bench. In the report on the first
periodic visit to Portugal, the CPT made clear that it is
unacceptable for detained persons to be kept shackled to
a piece of furniture in full view of persons visiting a
police station; it must reiterate that proper cellular accommodation
should be provided.
45. The GNR Headquarters in Setúbal
possessed two cells each measuring less than 3.5m²
and equipped with a concrete sleeping platform (with a mattress
and blanket) and a lavatory. They had good lighting, although
they did not benefit from natural light, and ventilation
was very poor.
The delegation was informed that the
cells could be used inter alia to accommodate persons detained
overnight. The CPT wishes to stress that, by virtue of their
size, the cells should only be used for temporary holding
purposes (i.e. detention for a maximum of a few hours);
no one should be held in them overnight.
46. The material conditions seen at
the Rua Central GNR Station in Lever could be described
as very good. The two cells each measured just under 10
m² and benefitted from good natural light, artificial
lighting and ventilation. Each was equipped with a sanitary
annex containing a wash basin, lavatory and bidet. The only
criticism which could be made of these facilities is that
they were not fitted with sleeping platforms - detainees
slept on mattresses on the floor.
47. The CPT recommends that conditions
of detention in the different establishments visited by
the delegation be reviewed, in the light of the remarks
made in paragraphs 37 to 46.
Further, it recommends that the Portuguese
authorities continue to make efforts to ensure that the
conditions of detention in police establishments in general
meet all the requirements indicated in paragraph 35.
4. Safeguards
against the ill-treatment of detained persons
a. introduction
48. In the report drawn up following
the first periodic visit to Portugal, the CPT examined in
some detail the safeguards against ill-treatment offered
to detained persons (including notification of custody,
access to a lawyer and access to a doctor). A number of
recommendations were made on this subject (cf.
CPT/Inf (94) 9, paragraphs 38 et seq.); in particular,
it was recommended that detained persons should have the
right, as from the outset of their custody, to inform a
close relative or third party of their detention (any possibility
to delay the exercise of that right to be clearly circumscribed
and made subject to appropriate safeguards); that the right
of persons detained by the police to have access to a doctor
(including one of their own choice) should be expressly
guaranteed; that a form setting out their rights in a straightforward
manner should be given to detainees at the outset of their
period in police custody; and that a code of conduct for
police interviews should be drawn up.
As indicated in the CPT's letter to
the Portuguese authorities of 22 March 1995, the response
(interim report) contained no substantive replies to any
of these core recommendations. However, in their follow-up
report, the Portuguese authorities make reference to the
development of a draft information sheet for detained persons
setting out some of their rights (cf. further paragraphs
57 and 58). This is an interesting development; however,
the CPT remains convinced of the need to place all of these
rights on a firm legal footing.
49. One matter not mentioned in the
Committee's first report is the legal status of persons
deprived of their liberty under Article 250 of the Code
of Criminal Procedure; this provides that when there are
grounds for suspicion, persons may be deprived of their
liberty by the police for up to 6 hours for identification
purposes. It would appear that such persons do not benefit
from the safeguards set out in Article 61(1) of the Code
of Criminal Procedure unless, and until, they are suspected
of a criminal offence (from which moment they formally become
a detainee - or "arguido").
In this regard it should be emphasised
that the safeguards offered to persons detained by the police
should apply as from the very outset of their custody, regardless
of the reason for which they have been detained. Accordingly,
the CPT recommends that the Portuguese authorities take
steps to ensure that persons detained under Article 250
of the Code of Criminal Procedure benefit from the rights
set out in Article 61(1) of the Code and the other safeguards
discussed in this report, as from the moment when they are
first obliged to remain with the police.
b. notification of custody
50. Some persons who were, or who had
recently been, in the custody of the police told the delegation
that they had been informed of the possibility to have the
fact of their detention notified to a close relative or
third party of their choice. A few such persons had themselves
been allowed to telephone a person of their choice. Other
detained persons stated that they had not been given an
opportunity to notify anyone of the fact of their detention.
51. The information about the exercise
of this right which had been recorded by the police varied
from case to case. On occasion, the fact that the person
had been informed of the possibility to notify a third party
of his detention had been recorded. In other cases, the
police had recorded that, at the request of the detainee,
a specified third party had been notified. However, in many
cases, no reference whatsoever had been made to the operation
of this fundamental safeguard.
In short, it remained true that there
was no guarantee that a person taken into police custody
would be able to notify a close relative or other third
party - the matter remained entirely at the discretion of
the police.
52. The draft information sheet referred
to in paragraph 48 provides that a detained person has the
right immediately to inform a member of his family, or another
person of his choice, of his situation. While welcoming
this development, the CPT recommends that the right to
have someone informed of the fact of one's custody be given
a firm legal basis.
c. access to a lawyer
53. The CPT has noted that the relevant
provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (4)
have been interpreted as entitling detainees to the assistance
of a lawyer as from the outset of police custody. Nevertheless,
the information gathered during the second periodic visit
confirmed that it remained extremely rare for detained persons
to have access to a lawyer before their first court appearance.
According to the Portuguese authorities
(5) this is because no important procedural
acts, apart from the identification of the detainee, can
be carried out at that stage and, more specifically, detainees
cannot be questioned by the police officers who carry out
the arrest.
This explanation would appear to overlook
the general delegation of investigatory powers from the
Public Prosecutor to the Judicial Police in the Lisbon,
Oporto and Coimbra districts, to which reference was made
in the CPT's 1992 report. In fact, it is clear that the
Judicial Police can and frequently do interrogate detained
persons not only after they have been remanded in custody
but also before their first judicial hearing.
Further, although PSP and GNR officers
are not in principle authorised to question detainees, the
delegation's findings indicate that some such officers may
seek to persuade arrested persons to volunteer information.
No doubt, any such information gathered would not have a
specific evidential value; nonetheless, it could have a
significant influence on subsequent events.
54. These different factors indicate
how important it is for steps to be taken to render effective
the right of detained persons to have access to a lawyer
as from the outset of their custody. In this respect, it
should be noted that, although the above-mentioned draft
information sheet states that a detained person has the
right to contact a lawyer, only the court may appoint a
lawyer for a detainee without the means to pay for legal
assistance. It follows that indigent persons would not normally
be in a position to consult a lawyer before their first
court appearance.
The CPT recommends that the Portuguese
authorities take appropriate steps to ensure that all persons
taken into police custody are placed in a position effectively
to exercise their right to have access to a lawyer, as from
the outset of their custody. Preferably, they should benefit
from the presence of a lawyer during questioning.
d. access to a doctor
55. There had been no change in the
situation as regards the medical examination of persons
held in police custody since the CPT's first periodic visit
to Portugal (cf. paragraphs 45 and 46 of document CPT/Inf
(94) 9). However, the draft information sheet for detained
persons states that medical assistance shall be provided
to detainees who require such attention.
In this respect, the CPT wishes to
reiterate the following recommendations:
- a person detained by the police
to have a right of access to a doctor of his own choice,
in addition to any doctor called by the police;
- all medical examinations of persons
in police custody to be conducted out of the hearing and,
unless the doctor concerned requests otherwise, out of the
sight of police officers;
- the results of all medical examinations
as well as relevant statements by the detainee and the doctor's
conclusions to be formally recorded by the doctor and made
available to the detainee and his lawyer.
56. In the course of the second periodic
visit, the delegation noted the presence of many drug-addicted
detainees in the police premises visited, some of whom were
suffering from withdrawal symptoms and were clearly in pain
or acute discomfort. Moreover, the delegation also met a
number of persons with other somatic or mental conditions
which required immediate attention. The presence of such
persons in police custody creates difficulties which are
far from easy to resolve. In this respect, the CPT would
like to receive information from the Portuguese authorities
about the training and/or instructions given to police officers
about the attitude to adopt towards such detainees.
e. information on rights
57. As already indicated above, in
the report on the first periodic visit to Portugal, the
CPT recommended that a form setting out the detainees' rights
in a straightforward manner be given systematically to such
persons at the outset of their custody. It further recommended
that the form should be available in different languages
and that the detainee should be asked to sign a statement
attesting that he has been informed of his rights. At the
time of the CPT's second periodic visit to Portugal, this
recommendation had yet to be implemented; police officers
still apparently read the provisions of section 61 (1) of
the Code of Criminal Procedure to detainees (cf. also paragraph
47 of document CPT/Inf (94) 9).
However, reference has already been
made to the preparation of a draft information sheet, to
be given to persons who have been detained by the police
or admitted to prison. The sheet indicates inter alia:
- that a detained person has the right
immediately to inform a member of his family, or another
person of his choice, of his situation;
- that he has the right to contact his
lawyer or to request that one be appointed by the court
to assist him (such assistance being free of charge if the
person concerned does not have the means to pay for that
service himself);
- that he shall be provided with necessary
medical assistance from the outset of his detention.
58. The CPT has welcomed this development
(cf. paragraph 52) and trusts that measures taken to
implement the recommendations set out in paragraphs 49 to
56 above will, as appropriate, be taken into account in
any future revisions of the information sheet. It recommends
that the information sheet:
- be formally adopted as soon as
possible;
- be translated into an appropriate
range of languages;
- be given without delay to detained
persons and that the latter be asked to sign a statement
indicating that they have received a copy of the information
sheet.
f. conduct of interrogations
59. The Judicial Police may interrogate
persons taken into police custody both before and after
their first judicial hearing (cf. paragraph 53). In their
response, the Portuguese authorities indicated that Judicial
Police officers receive a 36 hour training module on interview
and examination techniques; however, it would appear that
no action has been taken on the CPT's recommendation that
a code of conduct for police interrogations be drawn up.
The Committee must therefore recommend that such a code
be drawn up without delay.
As indicated in the CPT's first visit
report, the code should address inter alia the following
matters: the systematic informing of the detainee of the
identity (name and/or identity number) of those present
at the interview; the permissible length of an interview;
rest periods between interviews and breaks during an interview;
places in which an interview may take place; whether the
detainee may be required to stand while being questioned;
the interviewing of persons who are under the influence
of drugs, alcohol, medicine, or who are in a post-traumatic
state. The code should also provide that a record be kept
of the time at which interviews start and end, of any request
made by the detainee during an interview, and of the persons
present during each interview.
The position of specially vulnerable
persons (for example, the young, those who are mentally
disabled or mentally ill) should be the subject of specific
safeguards.
60. It has already been mentioned that
Public Security Police and National Republican Guard officers
cannot question detained persons, although they are obliged
to record "voluntary statements".
The CPT would like to be informed
whether the performance of an unlawful interview of a detainee
by a PSP or GNR officer attracts disciplinary and/or criminal
sanctions.
61. The CPT considers that the electronic
recording of police interrogations represents another important
safeguard for detainees, as well as offering advantages
for the police. In particular, it can provide a complete
and authentic record of the interview process, thereby greatly
facilitating the investigation of allegations of ill-treatment
and the correct attribution of blame. However, according
to the information received by the delegation, such a system
is apparently not in use in Portugal.
The CPT invites the Portuguese authorities
to consider the possibility of introducing a system for
the electronic recording of police interrogations. The system
should offer all appropriate safeguards (for example, the
consent of the detainee and the use of two tapes, one of
which would be sealed in the presence of the detainee and
the other used as a working copy).
g. custody registers
62. From its examination of the custody
registers and related papers in the police establishments
visited, the delegation noted that certain aspects of a
person's custody were not systematically recorded and that
the information which was recorded tended to be spread over
a variety of registers and documents.
The CPT considers that the fundamental
safeguards afforded to persons in police custody can be
reinforced (and the work of police officers facilitated)
by the existence of a single and comprehensive custody record
for each person detained. Such a custody record should contain
information on all relevant aspects of a detainee's custody
and action taken regarding them (time of and reason(s) for
the arrest; time of arrival on police premises; when informed
of rights; signs of injury, health problems, mental disorder
etc.; contacts with and/or visits from next of kin, lawyer,
doctor or consular official; when offered food; when questioned;
when brought before the relevant judge, when transferred,
released, etc.). For certain matters (for example, personal
belongings removed, the fact of being informed of his rights
and of invoking or waiving them), the detainee's signature
should be obtained and, if necessary, the absence of a signature
explained. The detainee's lawyer should have access to such
a custody record.
The CPT recommends that the Portuguese
authorities explore the possibility of developing such an
individualised custody record.
63. It should be added that, in several
of the police stations visited, the delegation encountered
persons being held for identification purposes under Article
250 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (cf. paragraph 49).
Notwithstanding that Article 250 (4) of the Code specifies
that such a detention must be recorded in writing, no record
had been made of the fact that they had been taken into
custody.
The CPT recommends that whenever
a person is detained in a police establishment, for whatever
reason (including for identification purposes) and for whatever
length of time, the fact of his detention is recorded without
delay.
h. inspection procedures
64. The CPT has taken note of the draft
decree for the creation of an inspectorate with wide powers
of investigation and inspection extending to all the services
falling under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior.
The CPT would like to receive in due course a copy of the
decree creating that body and information on any investigations
and/or inspections which it may have undertaken in respect
of the PSP and the GNR.
65. Reference has already been made
to two recent reports produced by the Ombudsman following
visits to 19 PSP stations in the Lisbon area (cf. paragraph
21). The delegation was told that those visits form part
of an ongoing programme of inspection of police establishments.
In the view of the CPT, such visits
can play an important role in the prevention of ill-treatment;
it would be desirable for the Ombudsman to extend this initiative
to forces other than the PSP and to visit police establishments
throughout Portugal. The Committee wishes to receive
further information about the planned scope and scale of
future visits to police stations in Portugal by the Ombudsman,
together with copies of any reports produced after such
visits.
66. Finally, the CPT considers that
regular and unannounced visits by the competent judicial
authorities or public prosecutors to places where persons
are detained by the police can also make a significant contribution
to the prevention of ill-treatment. However, from the information
gathered during the visit, it would seem that such visits
rarely occur.
The CPT recommends that competent
judicial authorities and/or public prosecutors be encouraged
to exercise such on-the-spot supervision of places of detention.
i. return to police custody for further
questioning of persons held in prison
67. The CPT's delegation found that
it was a relatively common practice for persons who had
been remanded in custody following a judicial hearing to
be returned from prison to Judicial Police premises for
further questioning. Such transfers are authorised by Ministerial
Order (No. 352/80) and may be effected on the sole authority
of a PJ officer of at least the rank of Inspector. The PJ
officer escorting a remand prisoner leaves a signed receipt
with the prison, on which the time of exit from, and return
to, prison premises is recorded. The delegation's perusal
of the receipts held in certain of the establishments visited
showed that some prisoners had been repeatedly returned
to PJ premises for lengthy periods. It should be noted,
in this context, that some of the allegations of ill-treatment
received by the delegation related to periods during which
they had been returned to police custody.
From the standpoint of the prevention
of ill-treatment, it would be far preferable for further
questioning of persons committed to prison to take place
within the establishment concerned rather than on police
premises. The return of remand prisoners to police custody
for further questioning should only be sought and authorised
when it is absolutely unavoidable; consequently, it would
be appropriate for such a measure to require the express
authorisation of the competent judicial authority. Further,
in principle, a person returned to police custody should
not be kept on police premises overnight.
B. Prisons
1. Introduction
68. In the course of the second periodic
visit to Portugal, the CPT's delegation visited four prison
establishments. Lisbon Judicial Police Prison and Linhó
Prison received follow-up visits and Oporto Judicial Police
Prison was visited for the first time.
The delegation also visited one part
of Oporto Prison - C wing - with the principal purpose of
speaking to prisoners about their treatment by the police.
Nevertheless, the delegation did examine a number of aspects
of the conditions of detention in C wing (cf. further paragraphs
90 to 94).
69. The report on the Committee's first
periodic visit paid attention inter alia to the issues of
overcrowding, integral sanitation and regime activities.
This report reconsiders those issues in relation to the
establishments visited in 1995 and offers an assessment
of the progress which has been made since the CPT's first
visit, together with some proposals for further action.
2. Torture and
other forms of ill-treatment
70. The delegation heard no allegations
of torture of prisoners by prison staff in any of the establishments
visited or in other prisons in Portugal. Further, the delegation
received very few allegations of other forms of ill-treatment
of inmates by prison staff in Portugal, with the notable
exception of Lisbon Judicial Police Prison.
71. A considerable number of allegations
of physical ill-treatment of prisoners by prison staff were
heard at Lisbon Judicial Police Prison. The allegations
were consistent as regards the form of ill-treatment involved
(blows with truncheons); the locations in which it had occurred
(the corridor outside the inmates' accommodation and the
cells in the establishment's reception unit); the time at
which it had taken place (at night) and the circumstances
which were thought to have provoked it (querulous or unruly
behaviour by prisoners).
Particular reference should be made
to a prisoner seen in a cell in the reception unit. He alleged
that, on the previous evening, while suffering from withdrawal
symptoms, he had banged the cell door in order to attract
attention. The door was opened by prison guards, who allegedly
dragged him into the corridor, where they kicked him and
struck him with a truncheon on the left shoulder. On examination
by one of the delegation's doctors he displayed reddish
subcutaneous bruising of 5 to 6 cm in diameter on the left
acromioclavicular joint and a pale 5 cm haematoma posterior
of the right acromion. These findings are consistent with
the inmate's allegations.
72. It is particularly noteworthy in
this context that, according to information gathered by
the CPT's delegation, cell doors could be opened at night
by prison officers, without any record being made of that
fact. Further, prison staff admitted that inmates were on
occasion transferred to the reception cells at night to
"cool off" and that such transfers were not recorded;
if the prisoner was returned to a normal cell or dormitory
before the following morning, senior staff would not even
be informed orally.
Clearly, such a situation is open to
abuse.
73. In the light of the above (and bearing
in mind that similar allegations about the Lisbon Judicial
Police Prison had been heard during the first periodic visit
(6)), at its final meeting with the Portuguese authorities
the delegation requested that a thorough and independent
investigation be carried out into the possible ill-treatment
of prisoners in the establishment. The CPT wishes to receive
- as soon as possible - information on the conduct of that
investigation, together with details of the findings and
of any action taken upon them.
74. Finally, notwithstanding the positive
finding referred to in paragraph 70, and in order to obtain
a nationwide view of the situation, the Committee would
like to receive the following information for 1994 and 1995:
- the number of complaints of ill-treatment
lodged against prison officers in Portugal and the number
of disciplinary/criminal proceedings initiated as a result
of such complaints;
- an account of criminal/disciplinary
sanctions imposed following complaints of ill-treatment
by prison officers.
Further, the CPT would appreciate
receiving regularly updated information on this subject
from the Portuguese authorities.
3. Conditions
of detention
a. follow-up visits
i. Lisbon Judicial Police Prison
75. The CPT's delegation found that
some improvements had been made to conditions of detention
at Lisbon Judicial Police Prison since the first periodic
visit; in particular, all prisoners held there now had ready
access to a lavatory at all times. More generally, the establishment's
state of repair was somewhat better. However, the fundamental
problems identified in 1992 persisted.
76. The establishment remained grossly
overcrowded. It was accommodating 169 prisoners (as compared
to 155 in January 1992) in cells and dormitories with a
total capacity of 80 places.
As during the first visit, approximately
half of the prisoners were accommodated in four dormitories
with sanitary annexes, each of which measured approximately
36m². 24 prisoners lived in each dormitory (as compared
to 22 in 1992), 2 of whom slept on mattresses on the floor.
The situation was little better in the
other three types of accommodation provided: two rooms,
measuring approximately 12 m² with sanitary annex,
each accommodated 7 prisoners (as compared to 6 in 1992);
and sets of interconnecting 6.5 m² cells with sanitary
annexes each held 3 prisoners, as did sets of three cells,
which measured some 6.7 m². Additional bunk beds had
been placed in the small communal areas located next to
the last-mentioned cells.
In short, notwithstanding the CPT's
1992 recommendation that immediate steps be taken to reduce
substantially the number of prisoners held in the Judicial
Police Prison, some three and a half years after the first
visit, the level of overcrowding exceeded the establishment's
capacity by more than 100%.
77. Further, the regime activities offered
to prisoners remained unsatisfactory.
All inmates were now offered at least
one hour of outdoor exercise every day; this is a most welcome
development. Further, a group of around 20 prisoners were
able to play sports every afternoon.
However, the vast majority of prisoners
were offered no work, and no educational courses were provided;
the typical prisoner remained idle for almost the whole
day.
ii. Linhó Prison
78. The delegation found that there
had been a number of significant improvements in the conditions
of detention at Linhó Prison since the 1992 visit.
79. The Committee's recommendations
that broken windows be reglazed had been met by replacing
all of the windows throughout the establishment. Further,
six entirely new sanitary annexes had been installed in
the accommodation areas. Each annex contained between five
and seven lavatories, three urinals and three wash basins,
as well as a distinct area in which slopping-out buckets
were emptied. All of those areas were spotlessly clean.
80. Regrettably, the positive impact
of those changes was somewhat blunted by the fact that the
establishment was significantly more overcrowded than it
had been in 1992 - 595 prisoners were being held in accommodation
with a capacity of 440 (as against 484 prisoners in accommodation
with a capacity of 460, during the first periodic visit).
As a result, over half of the inmate population were being
held 2 to a cell, in cells measuring around 7 m². As
the Committee has already had occasion to point out, at
this level of occupation the cells concerned offer only
cramped accommodation.
81. A total of 302 work places were
available at Linhó - both in workshops within the
prison walls and at the farm located a short distance away.
The prison "quarry", criticised by the Committee
in the report on its first visit, remained in operation
on a part-time basis. Even although the number of inmates
working there had been reduced from 24 to 16, and they had
been provided with appropriate protective clothing, the
Committee must reiterate its recommendation that stone breaking
activities at Linhó be replaced by other work of
a more challenging and vocational nature.
82. A substantial investment had been
made to improve the educational opportunities for inmates.
A large unused building had been converted to provide new
premises for the school, which now provided a total of 150
places (as opposed to 100 in 1992). Moreover, there were
plans to increase the capacity to 175 places by 1996.
At the time of the visit, the 126 prisoners
who were attending the school were following courses at
elementary, intermediate and advanced levels in subjects
ranging from Portuguese and mathematics to social sciences,
the visual arts and economics. The CPT can only welcome
these improvements and trusts that every effort will
continue to be made to increase the number of inmates taking
part in full-time education.
83. In the report on its first periodic
visit, the Committee expressed concern about the situation
of the so-called "inactive" population. At the
time of the second visit, some 152 inmates were classified
as inactive (i.e. neither working nor attending school).
There had been a modest improvement in the out-of-cell time
which was offered to them. A rota system had been introduced
which had reduced the continuous period of 27 hours for
which such prisoners had been locked in their cells to 19
hours on alternate days. During their out-of-cell time such
inmates could make free use not only of the exercise yards,
but also of the renovated common rooms in both wings A and
B.
Notwithstanding the above, their conditions
of detention still left considerable room for improvement.
84. Finally, the delegation was concerned
to learn that the number of "educational technicians"
had been reduced from five to four. Those officials
were responsible for dealing with the practical problems
and written requests/complaints of nearly 600 prisoners.
The delegation was told by prisoners that this led to considerable
delays in dealing with even straightforward requests. This
was confirmed by the prison staff with whom the delegation
raised the subject.
b. Oporto Judicial Police Prison
85. Oporto Judicial Police Prison was
located on three sub-basement levels of the building which
housed the Oporto headquarters of the Judicial Police (on
which, cf. paragraph 37). The establishment had an official
capacity of 41 and, on the day of the visit was accommodating
36 male inmates (including 2 minors) on remand. According
to the Director, the establishment might be called upon
to accommodate up to 45 inmates.
The delegation was told that, although
a small number of prisoners had been there for up two years,
most inmates stayed for between fifteen days and two months.
86. The material conditions of detention
in many parts of the establishment were far from satisfactory.
An average cell measured some 6 m²and
contained a bed or beds, table and chair and a locker. Of
an adequate size for one prisoner, such cells were being
used to hold up to three. At that level of occupancy they
provided extremely cramped accommodation. However, they
did enjoy good natural light, artificial lighting and ventilation.
Conditions were slightly less cramped
in the dormitories (4 persons in c. 20 m²,6 persons
in c. 17 m²; 7 persons in c. 24 m²), though still
far from ideal from the standpoint of living space. The
dormitories were properly furnished, and had adequate artificial
lighting and ventilation. They were also fitted with integral
sanitation (a lavatory and wash basin) in a partitioned
annex. However, as the dormitories did not face the exposed
rear of the building, access to natural light was mediocre.
A further two cells were located on
a floor above the detention area. Both measured around 10
m²and were appropriately equipped. Natural and artificial
light were good, as was ventilation.
87. A renovation programme was underway
and, at the time of the visit, work had been completed in
a number of cells - on the lower floor non-partitioned lavatories
were being fitted and, on the upper floor (where the walls
were too thick to instal integral sanitation), it was intended
to provide unlimited access to new sanitary facilities.
88. The unrenovated cells were not fitted
with integral sanitation and prisoners were compelled to
rely upon buckets in their cells to comply with the needs
of nature. These buckets would be collected each morning
by inmates who had been assigned cleaning duties and their
contents "slopped out" in the annex set aside
for that purpose. The annex in question was in a thoroughly
decrepit condition - the slopping out facility consisted
of a wooden hatch which could be lifted to reveal an open
sewer. A shower for inmates and a staff lavatory were also
located in this area.
89. Oporto Judicial Police Prison did
not offer any regime activities worthy of the name. Inmates
were not even allowed to take outdoor exercise. The establishment
was equipped with a properly surfaced and adequately sized
exercise yard, but the delegation was told that this was
not in use because there were insufficient staff to supervise
the activities of the inmates. At best, prisoners might
be allowed to circulate in the corridors for around 40 minutes
after having cleaned their cells. Otherwise (with the exception
of visits for 1 hour per week and time spent showering)
they were locked in their cells with little or nothing to
occupy their time. The more fortunate among them had been
provided by friends or relatives with a radio or television
for use in their cell.
c. Oporto Prison
90. Oporto Prison is located in the
suburb of Custoias. Adult male inmates on remand were accommodated
in four parallel wings (each of three storeys) which were
connected by a long corridor. The prison also provided separate
accommodation for women inmates and for juveniles. Notwithstanding
its official capacity of 500, at the time of the visit the
establishment was holding some 1120 prisoners.
As already indicated, the primary purpose
of the visit to Oporto Prison was to interview persons who
had recently been in police custody. Consequently, the delegation
focused its attention on C wing, which accommodated almost
all newly arrived prisoners. The delegation also spoke with
a number of prisoners held under special security regimes
on the top floor of C wing.
91. As was the case throughout the rest
of the establishment, C wing was extremely overcrowded.
The cells in which the majority of inmates were held measured
approximately 7 m²; they were of an acceptable size
for one person, but represented cramped accommodation for
two. However, at the time of the visit, most of the 214
prisoners in C wing were being held two to a cell and a
substantial minority were being held three to a cell.
Living space for those held in the wing's
two dormitories (five inmates in 16.5 m² and seven
inmates in 24 m²) was also unsatisfactory.
92. The cells and dormitories benefitted
from good natural light, artificial lighting and ventilation,
but were in a dirty and dilapidated condition, as was the
wing as a whole. Beds apart, the little furniture which
was provided (shelves, cupboards) was often in an unserviceable
condition.
Further, although the cells and dormitories
were fitted with wash basins, they were not equipped with
integral sanitation and prisoners had to satisfy the needs
of nature in plastic buckets in their cells.
93. The vast majority of prisoners in
C wing were not offered regime activities of any meaningful
kind. They were allowed at least one hour of outdoor exercise
per day; however, there were no organised educational or
sporting activities and only a few privileged prisoners
had work.
94. The difficulties experienced by
prisoners in C wing were compounded by a lack of effective
staff supervision. The delegation observed that supervisory
staff only rarely ventured into the wing while the cells
were unlocked. As a result, prisoners minded to exploit
their fellow inmates (whether for pecuniary advantage or
physical gratification) enjoyed a virtually free hand. Many
of the newly-arrived prisoners interviewed by the CPT's
delegation stated that they lived in daily terror of a small
group of powerful inmates, who held sway within the wing.
These claims were borne out by the delegation's own observations.
d. assessment and proposals for further
action
95. In many of its reports, the CPT
has underlined the harmful effects of overcrowding, inadequate
access to proper sanitary facilities and poor regime activities.
The Committee is particularly concerned when it finds a
combination of those factors. The cumulative effect of such
conditions will be extremely detrimental for prisoners and,
under certain circumstances, could be considered to amount
to inhuman and degrading treatment.
As already indicated, all three of the
above factors were present in Oporto Judicial Police Prison
and in C wing at Oporto Prison. Further, in both establishments,
additional elements rendered the position of the prisoners
concerned even more objectionable. In Oporto Judicial Police
Prison there was a complete denial of outdoor exercise;
in C wing at Oporto Prison, prisoners lived in a potentially
perilous environment as a direct result of a lack of effective
staff supervision. In the view of the CPT, most prisoners
at Oporto Judicial Police Prison and all inmates in C wing
at Oporto Prison were being held in inhuman and degrading
conditions.
96. As regards the two establishments
which were the subject of follow-up visits, namely Lisbon
Judicial Police Prison and Linhó Prison, some notable
improvements had been made since the first periodic visit.
Nevertheless, in particular at Lisbon Judicial Police Prison,
much remained to be done before conditions of detention
could be considered satisfactory.
97. Overcrowding, an ill which the Committee
understands affects the whole of the Portuguese prison system,
was the principal obstacle to providing better conditions
of detention in all the establishments visited.
In their interim and follow-up reports
in reply to the CPT's report on the first periodic visit,
the Portuguese authorities have indicated that a major prison
building/renovation programme is underway. Apparently, 855
new prison places have been brought into service already
and further places shall shortly become available.
98. The Committee welcomes the action
being taken by the Portuguese authorities to tackle this
key problem; however, it has some doubts about whether building
new prison accommodation will, in itself, provide a lasting
solution.
Indeed, some European States have embarked
on extensive programmes of prison building, only to find
their prison populations rising in tandem with the increased
capacity acquired by their prison estates. It is noteworthy
that, in those countries which enjoy uncrowded prison systems,
the existence of policies to limit and/or modulate the number
of persons being sent to prison has tended to be an important
element in maintaining the prison population at a manageable
level.
The CPT recommends that a very high
priority continue to be given to measures designed to bring
about a permanent end to overcrowding, taking into account
the above remarks.
99. The Committee recognises that some
progress has been made in providing prisoners with better
access to proper sanitary facilities. In particular, ready
access to a lavatory at all times is now guaranteed at Lisbon
Judicial Police Prison. However, the situation was still
not completely satisfactory in the other prisons visited.
At Linhó, prisoners still did not have ready access
to the renovated sanitary annexes at all times and, in particular,
at night. At Oporto Judicial Police Prison, unscreened lavatories
were being installed in cells which could be occupied by
as many as three persons; even if the latter establishment
were to be in a position to hold one prisoner per cell,
the inmate concerned could still be said to be living in
a lavatory. In C wing at Oporto Prison, the slopping out
system remained fully operative.
The Committee must reiterate the view
that either the lavatories installed in cells should be
properly partitioned from prisoners' living space (preferably
in a sanitary annex) or other means should be found to enable
all prisoners who need to use a lavatory to be released
from their cells without undue delay (including at night)
(cf. paragraph 152 of the report on the first visit). The
CPT recommends that a very high priority continue to be
given to plans to provide all prisoners in Portugal with
ready access to a lavatory at all times, taking into account
the above remarks.
100. In its first report (and in its
preliminary observations on the response of the Portuguese
authorities), the Committee requested detailed information
about plans to improve access to sanitary facilities and,
more particularly, on the timescale within which it is envisaged
that the necessary work will be completed. The CPT would
like to receive this information as soon as possible.
101. Finally, the CPT recommends that,
in prisons or parts of prisons where inmates do not yet
have ready access at all times to proper sanitary facilities,
prison officers receive instructions to the effect that
a request made by a prisoner to be released from his cell
or dormitory during the day for the purpose of using a lavatory
should be granted, unless significant security considerations
require otherwise.
102. The improvement of regime activities
is an objective which, to a large extent, is dependent on
reducing overcrowding. Nevertheless, even in the existing
circumstances there can be no justification for denying
prisoners outdoor exercise. The CPT recommends that steps
be taken immediately to ensure that inmates at Oporto Judicial
Police Prison are offered at least one hour of outdoor exercise
every day.
103. Aside from the above-mentioned
measure, the highest priority should be given to addressing
the problems observed in Lisbon and Oporto Judicial Police
Prisons. Both establishments were operating as remand prisons,
without any programmes of activities commensurate with that
function; in fact, there was little scope to develop additional
activities within the existing premises. The CPT recommends
that, as soon as the required places become available, prisoners
held on remand in the Judicial Police Prisons in Lisbon
and Oporto be relocated to normal remand prisons.
As regards the regime to be offered
in remand prisons, the CPT recommends that the objective
be to ensure that prisoners can spend a reasonable part
of the day (i.e. eight hours or more) outside their cells,
engaged in purposeful activities of a varied nature (group
association activities, education, sport, work with vocational
value).
The CPT has already made certain comments
concerning the situation at Linhó Prison (cf. paragraphs
81, 82 and 84). Further, the CPT recommends that additional
activities be developed for sentenced prisoners classified
as "inactive" at Linhó Prison (and, if
appropriate, in other establishments for sentenced prisoners
where such inmates are to be found).
104. Finally, having regard to the gravity
of the situation observed by its delegation in C wing at
Oporto Prison, the CPT feels constrained to recall that
the act of depriving a person of his liberty entails the
correlative duty for the State to safeguard the physical
and mental welfare of that person until such time as his
liberty is restored.
The CPT recommends that the conditions
of detention in C Wing at Oporto Prison be the subject of
a full review, with the aim of ensuring that the physical
and mental integrity of inmates held there is guaranteed.
4. Health care
services
a. staff and facilities in the prisons
visited
105. The CPT attaches considerable
importance to the principle that prisoners are entitled
to the same level of health care as persons living in the
community at large. Provision in terms of medical, nursing
and technical staff, as well as premises, installations
and equipment, should be geared accordingly.
106. The report on the CPT's first periodic
visit to Portugal identified a number of shortfalls in health
care service staffing levels, leading the Committee to conclude
that the staffing level in all three civil prisons visited
in 1992 was insufficient to assure the provision of health
care to prisoners by an appropriately qualified person (cf.
CPT/Inf (94) 9, paragraph
119). The response and the follow-up report of the Portuguese
Government suggested that serious efforts were being made
to remedy such shortfalls, both by creating new posts and
by converting existing part-time posts into full-time positions.
107. In the course of the second periodic
visit to Portugal, the CPT's delegation observed that the
staffing level of health care services had been significantly
augmented in the two prisons visited on a follow-up basis.
At the Lisbon Judicial Police Prison,
a doctor attended the prison on a half-time basis (as compared
to four to eight hours per week at the time of the first
periodic visit) and the prison had three full-time nursing
posts (as against a maximum of ten hours of nurses' attendance
per week in January 1992). Linhó Prison benefited
from the equivalent of one full-time doctor (in what had
previously been a part-time position), and nursing care
was assured by six full-time nurses (whereas in January
1992 two nurses provided the equivalent of less than one
full-time post).
108. At Oporto Judicial Police Prison,
the health care staff consisted of a doctor who visited
the prison every weekday and a nurse who was present in
the prison for two hours on weekdays.
It should be recalled, in this respect,
that there is a considerable turnover of inmates at Oporto
Judicial Police Prison and that it represents the main point
of entry into the prison system in the Oporto area. It follows
that it will be very difficult for one nurse to screen all
incoming prisoners and attend to the general needs of the
longer-term population in the space of a daily two-hour
visit. The Committee recommends that the level of nursing
provision at Oporto Judicial Police Prison be reinforced.
109. At the time of the visit, the health
care service at Oporto Prison was in a state of crisis.
One full-time doctor and the equivalent of three full-time
nurses (7) were
attempting to provide health care to more than 1000 male
prisoners. There was a daily average of some 20 consultations,
whereas the waiting list exceeded 100. Consequently, the
delegation was not surprised to learn that inmates had to
wait for a very long time to receive medical attention.
The CPT recommends that immediate
steps be taken to reinforce the health care team responsible
for male prisoners at Oporto Prison. As regards doctors,
it should be emphasised that a health care team responsible
for more than 1000 inmates should include at least two full-time
doctors.
The 54 women held at Oporto Prison were
better served; they benefited from the services of a half-time
doctor.
110. The information gathered during
the second periodic visit indicates that little action has
been taken to implement the CPT's 1992 recommendation(8)
that someone competent to provide first aid (preferably
someone with a recognised nursing qualification) always
be present on prison premises. The CPT recommends that
the Portuguese authorities take urgent steps to comply with
that recommendation.
111. The health-care facilities seen
at Lisbon Judicial Police Prison and at Linhó and
Oporto Prisons were of an adequate standard and in a satisfactory
state of cleanliness.
By contrast, the facilities seen at
Oporto Judicial Police Prison were extremely rudimentary.
The medical room was cramped, inadequately lit and too small
to accommodate even an examination couch. The delegation
was told that, if the need arose, the doctor could make
use of a bed in the nearby prison officers' quarters. Clearly,
such an arrangement is unsatisfactory for all concerned.
The Committee recommends that immediate steps be taken
to improve the health care facilities at Oporto Judicial
Police Prison in the light of these remarks.
b. medical screening on reception
112. In its report on the 1992 periodic
visit to Portugal, the CPT recommended that every newly-arrived
prisoner be properly interviewed and, if necessary, physically
examined by a medical doctor as soon as possible after his
admission; save for in exceptional circumstances, that interview/examination
to be carried out on the day of admission, especially insofar
as remand establishments are concerned (cf.
CPT/Inf (94) 9, paragraph 126, second sub-paragraph).
Subsequently, in its 3rd General Report, the CPT commented
that medical screening on admission could also be performed
by a fully qualified nurse, reporting to a doctor
(9) .
In their response, the Portuguese authorities
referred to Article 6 (4) of Legislative Decree no. 265/77,
which requires that prisoners be medically examined within
72 hours of their admission to prison (cf. paragraph 68
of the Ministry of Justice response), but did not otherwise
address the Committee's recommendation.
113. The CPT's delegation found that,
in the four prisons visited in the course of the 1995 periodic
visit, newly admitted inmates were in principle seen by
health care staff - a doctor or a qualified nurse - within
12 to 24 hours of their admission. Most of those interviewed
by a nurse were subsequently seen by a doctor within a few
days.
However, at Lisbon Judicial Police Prison,
the delegation heard that inmates admitted during the weekend
could wait for a day or more before being seen by health
care staff. The CPT must reiterate the recommendation
referred to in paragraph 112.
114. The CPT's delegation found that
the content of the medical screening on reception varied
from prison to prison.
Inmates admitted to the Lisbon or Oporto
Judicial Police Prisons were interviewed by health care
staff, but were seldom - and if so, only superficially -
physically examined. Moreover, at the Lisbon Judicial Police
Prison, both the doctor and nurses stated that it was very
rare for newly arrived inmates to be asked to undress during
an examination (cf. also paragraphs 119 and 120). Some prisoners
were offered an HIV, hepatitis B and/or tuberculosis screening
test, on occasion with the support of outside institutions;
the delegation was told that this often involved significant
delays in tests being performed or in receiving the results
thereof
At Linhó and Oporto Prisons,
newly-arrived inmates were routinely tested for HIV and
hepatitis B, and tuberculosis screening was available at
Linhó. As regards HIV testing in these two prisons,
the delegation was informed that it was formally regarded
as voluntary, though it was said to be strongly recommended;
a prisoner who chose not to be tested had to sign a statement
of refusal.
115. The CPT is particularly concerned
by the absence of a systematic tuberculosis screening programme
in certain of the establishments visited. The delegation
was told that only a limited number of Portuguese prisons
had access to the national tuberculosis screening programme
(known as "S.L.A.T."). This is all the more disturbing
in view of the increasing number of prisoners suffering
from that disease. As an example of the scale of the problem,
the delegation was told by the doctor at Lisbon Judicial
Police Prison that, on average, four prisoners suffering
from active tuberculosis were admitted to the prison every
month.
It should be added that the visiting
delegation met a prisoner suffering from active pulmonary
tuberculosis at the Lisbon Judicial Police Prison; he had
been sharing a cell with a number of other prisoners for
several days. Health care staff, who were aware of his condition
and of the risk of transmission, had not taken the necessary
steps to ensure his medical isolation and treatment.
116. The CPT wishes to receive detailed
information on the subject of medical screening on reception
in the Portuguese prison system, with particular reference
to current rules and intended developments in respect of
HIV and tuberculosis screening. The CPT also wishes to be
informed of whether it is intended to extend the S.L.A.T.
tuberculosis screening programme to all prisons in Portugal.
As regards, more particularly, prisoners
identified as having tuberculosis, the CPT recommends
that appropriate steps be taken to minimise the risk of
that disease being transmitted to other prisoners or to
staff.
117. The CPT also wishes to emphasise
that a prison health care service should ensure that information
about transmissible diseases (in particular hepatitis, AIDS,
tuberculosis, dermatological infections) is regularly circulated,
both to prisoners and to prison staff. Where appropriate,
medical control of those with whom a particular prisoner
has regular contact (fellow prisoners, prison staff, frequent
visitors) should be carried out.
As regards more particularly AIDS,
appropriate counselling should be provided both before and,
if necessary, after any screening test. Prison staff should
be provided with ongoing training in the preventive measures
to be taken and the attitudes to be adopted regarding HIV-positivity
and given appropriate instructions concerning non-discrimination
and confidentiality.
c. the role of prison health care services
in the prevention of ill-treatment
118. Prison health care services can
make a significant contribution to the prevention of ill-treatment
of detained persons, through the systematic recording of
injuries and, when appropriate, the provision of general
information to the relevant authorities. Information could
also be forwarded on specific cases, though as a rule such
action should only be undertaken with the consent of the
prisoner concerned.
119. The CPT has noted in this connection
that the Director General of Prison Services has instructed
Prison Directors to order a specialist medical examination
of prisoners who bear injuries at the time of their first
admission or return to the prison and to forward a copy
of the result of such examinations to the Directorate General
of Prison Services (cf. Circular No. 10 of 14 May 1992).
Nevertheless, the information gathered
by the delegation indicates that the physical examination
of prisoners following their admission to prison was at
best superficial and inmates were very rarely asked to undress
during examination. The injuries displayed by a prisoner
were often recorded in a laconic and imprecise manner; further,
the statements of the prisoner were very seldom noted down
and most prison doctors interviewed by the delegation recognised
that they never recorded their conclusions.
120. In this connection, the CPT considers
that the record drawn up following a medical examination
of a newly admitted prisoner (or a prisoner returning to
the establishment) should contain:
(i) an account of statements made
by the person concerned which are relevant to the medical
examination (including his description of his state of
health and any allegations of ill-treatment),
(ii) an account of objective medical
findings based on a thorough examination, and
(iii) the doctor's conclusions in
the light of (i) and (ii).
The CPT recommends that steps be
taken to ensure that practice in Portugal is brought into
line with the above considerations. Further, the result
of the medical examination referred to above should be made
available to the prisoner concerned. The same approach should
be followed whenever a prisoner is medically examined following
a violent episode in prison.
d. health care provided to prisoners
121. It will remain difficult to provide
a satisfactory level of health care in prison establishments
in Portugal - let alone to pursue a health policy of a preventive
nature - until such time as the more general problems of
overcrowding, poor hygiene and inadequate regime activities
are resolved (cf. paragraphs 95 to 104 above).
122. In principle, prisoners requiring
specialist or in-patient hospital treatment can be referred
to the San João de Deus Prison Hospital at Caxias
(cf. paragraphs 125 to 127) or to a general hospital. However,
at Lisbon Judicial Police Prison, the CPT's delegation was
told that waiting lists for consultation or ambulatory treatment
at the Prison Hospital averaged between two and six weeks,
depending on the speciality. By contrast, at the Prison
Hospital the delegation was told that there was no waiting
list; an appointment would normally be made for the day
following the reception of a request.
Further, according to prison health
care staff, general hospitals were reluctant to admit prisoners
as in-patients.
The CPT would like to receive the
comments of the Portuguese authorities on these issues.
123. It should be stressed once again
that in any prison system there will be many prisoners who,
whilst not requiring admission to a psychiatric institution,
would benefit from appropriate psychiatric or psychological
care. The possibility to refer patients to a psychiatric
hospital or unit, whether for admission or for ambulatory
consultation, does not respond to the needs of all prisoners
(cf. also CPT/Inf (94) 9,
paragraph 123).
The situation in this respect had improved,
though only marginally, in the prisons which had been visited
by the CPT in 1992. Both Lisbon Judicial Police Prison and
Linhó Prison received weekly visits from a psychiatrist
(previously no psychiatric care was available in either
of them). Further, Linhó benefitted from regular
visits by two psychologists.
As regards the prisons visited for the
first time, Oporto Prison was visited by a psychiatrist;
however, no psychiatric or psychological support was offered
to inmates held at Oporto Judicial Police Prison.
The CPT recommends that steps be
taken to provide inmates at Oporto Judicial Police Prison
with an adequately resourced psychiatric/psychological service
for so long as that establishment continues to operate as
a remand facility.
124. Finally, the CPT was concerned
to learn that virtually no conservative dental services
were available to prisoners; in most cases only extractions
were offered.
The CPT recommends that the Portuguese
authorities take steps to improve the dental services available
to prisoners.
e. San João de Deus Prison Hospital
at Caxias
125. The Prison Hospital at Caxias
provided out-patient consultations (between 100 and 150
daily consultations) as well as in-patient care, covering
a wide range of surgical and non-surgical specialities.
The Prison Hospital had 130 general hospital beds (including
six for women prisoners) and 18 psychiatric beds (including
two for women); at the time of the visit 150 general and
15 psychiatric in-patients were being cared for. The hospital
appeared to be adequately equipped and staffed.
126. The only criticism which can be
levelled at the Prison Hospital concerns the material conditions
of detention in some of its dormitory accommodation. The
dormitories were in principle foreseen for six patients
each. However, some were being used to accommodate eight
patients in rather cramped conditions.
The CPT would like to receive information
on any measures envisaged by the Portuguese authorities
to address the problem of overcrowding at San João
de Deus Prison Hospital.
127. The delegation was informed of
the imminent opening of a specialised prison psychiatric
clinic at Sintra, with a capacity of approximately 100 patients.
This would free a certain amount of space at the Prison
Hospital, which was to be used to house the out-patient
consultation polyclinic. The CPT wishes to receive further
details about the Sintra Prison Psychiatric Clinic and to
be informed of the date on which it entered into service.
f. further remarks
128. The confidentiality of medical
data was not assured in all the prisons visited.
At Oporto Judicial Police Prison, several
prison officers who were called upon to perform nursing
functions had access to prisoners' medical files (which
were kept in an open cupboard). It should be added that
one particular prison officer had worked as an auxiliary
for many years; her duties included the preparation and
distribution of medicines. Whilst the delegation was impressed
by her dedication, it is unreasonable to expect a staff
member who has no nursing training to perform nursing duties.
At Oporto Prison, consultations took
place in the doctor's room while the door to the waiting
room remained open, thus compromising the privacy of doctor-patient
discussions. Further, the prison management could request
- and would be given - information on the HIV status of
inmates, and certain prisoners assisting health care staff
had access to medical files.
The CPT trusts that the reinforcement
of health care staff resources in Portuguese prisons will
serve to remedy the majority of these shortcomings. It
recommends that steps be taken to ensure the strict confidentiality
of medical data.
129. The CPT wishes to emphasise that
the quality of the medical records kept of care provided
to patients can have an important bearing both on the capacity
of a health care service to anticipate and respond to the
particular needs of individual patients and on its ability
to detect and react to pathological trends within the patient
group as a whole.
It follows that it is desirable for
a doctor's notes to be set out on a standardised medical
form, which could also include a range of other information
about the patient's medical history and current state of
health. It might be added that such a form can be a useful
means of ensuring the continuity of medical care received
by patients, in cases where they are transferred to other
establishments.
The CPT's delegation was told that there
were plans to develop just such a comprehensive medical
form, which would accompany inmates throughout their stay
in the prison system. The Committee welcomes this initiative
and invites the Portuguese authorities to pursue the
adoption of a standardised medical record form for use by
doctors working in prisons.
130. Lastly, the CPT was favourably
impressed by the pilot programme for the treatment of drug
addicted prisoners ("Criar"), implementation of
which had commenced in a number of Portuguese prisons, including
the Lisbon Judicial Police Prison and Linhó Prison.
The CPT can only encourage such initiatives.
The delegation heard that the programme
was to be developed further, inter alia by opening therapeutic
communities with a closed regime, as an avenue for the early
release of prisoners (cf. also the follow-up report of the
Ministry of Justice, page 11). The CPT would like to
be informed of any further developments in this field, especially
as regards evaluation of the Criar programme.
5. Other issues
related to the CPT's mandate
a. solitary confinement
131. In the report on its first periodic
visit to Portugal, the CPT paid particular attention to
the situation of prisoners held, under conditions resembling
solitary confinement, in the security unit at Vale de Judeus
Prison. The Committee has noted from the follow-up report
that the unit concerned has reverted to its original function
as a reception/observation unit and no longer holds prisoners
undergoing a solitary-confinement type regime.
Nevertheless, in the course of the second
periodic visit, the CPT's delegation was concerned to find
that a number of prisoners were being held under conditions
akin to solitary confinement in the security unit at Linhó
Prison. They were subject to a very restrictive regime,
similar to that described in paragraph 66 of the Committee's
report on its first visit.
132. As had been the case at Vale de
Judeus, the inmates in the security unit at Linhó
Prison had been placed there on the basis of Articles 111
and 113 of the Prison Rules (10)
. These are provisions which - according to the response
of the Portuguese authorities - should only be used when
"strictly necessary" (cf. paragraph 19 of the
response). However, the response does not include details
of any specific measures taken to ensure that prisoners
cannot be held under a very restrictive regime for inordinately
long periods of time (cf. paragraph 10 of the CPT's observations
on the response of the Portuguese authorities). It should
be noted, in this respect, that although Article 113 of
the Prison Rules lays down time limits for detention in
a special security cell, it sets no maximum length of detention
in a "security establishment or section", such
as that at Linhó.
133. The Committee recommends that
the placement of prisoners in security establishments or
sections under Articles 111 and 113 of the Prison Rules
be reviewed in order to ensure that:
- the regime applied to the occupants
of such units includes purposeful activities and guarantees
appropriate human contact;
- no prisoner is held in such a unit
for longer than is strictly necessary;
- no mentally-ill person is held
in such a unit.
The Committee would also like to
receive further information on the criteria used to determine
whether placement in a security establishment or section
is "strictly necessary" and on the purpose which
placement in such units is intended to serve (long-term
management of prisoners considered to be "dangerous";
containment of inmates considered to represent an escape
risk; detention of prisoners who threaten good order and
discipline etc.).
134. In its 1992 report, the Committee
also recommended that all prisoners held under solitary-confinement
type regimes be informed in writing of the reasons for their
placement (it being understood that those reasons need not
include facts which it would be reasonable to withhold on
security grounds); that they should be given an opportunity
to present their views on the matter to the relevant authority
before any final decision on placement in, or renewal of,
solitary confinement is taken; and that placement in solitary
confinement for an extended period should be subject to
a full review at least once every three months, if necessary
based upon a medico-social report.
Discussions with both the prisoners
being held under Articles 111 and 113 in the security unit
at Linhó Prison and staff at that establishment suggested
that the inmates concerned did not benefit from all of the
aforementioned safeguards.
135. The response of the Portuguese
authorities makes clear that, in cases where segregation
in a security unit is imposed in response to suspected criminal
behaviour, the prisoner concerned will be informed of the
nature of any criminal proceedings which are subsequently
taken against him. However, in the view of the Committee,
all prisoners held under solitary-confinement type regimes
should benefit from a broader range of procedural safeguards.
The Committee recommends that concrete
steps be taken to ensure that the procedural safeguards
identified in the first sub-paragraph of paragraph 134 are
fully respected in practice. It wishes to receive full details
of the measures taken by the Portuguese authorities in this
respect.
136. The Committee also wishes to
recall that it is an essential safeguard that the exact
time of placement in a solitary confinement-type regime
and the reason therefor be recorded in an appropriate register.
This had not been the case as regards at least one of the
prisoners met by the delegation during its visit to the
security unit at Linhó.
137. Finally, the Committee wishes to
stress that, whenever a prisoner placed in solitary confinement,
for whatever reason, asks for a medical doctor - or a prison
officer asks for one on his behalf - the doctor should be
called immediately to examine the prisoner. The results
of the medical examination, including an assessment of the
prisoner's mental and physical state and, if necessary,
the likely consequences of continuing solitary confinement,
should be set out in a written report, to be sent to the
relevant authorities.
The CPT recommends that the Portuguese
authorities take the necessary steps to ensure that the
regulations and practice in this area are in accordance
with the requirements set out in this paragraph.
b. discipline
138. The disciplinary cells at the
Judicial Police Prison in Lisbon had been taken out of service
since the Committee's first periodic visit. However, as
already mentioned (cf. paragraph 72), the establishment's
reception cells may on occasion have been used for quasi-disciplinary
purposes. The Committee recommends that appropriate steps
be taken to ensure that staff at Lisbon Judicial Police
Prison cannot have resort to an unofficial (and uncontrolled)
disciplinary system.
139. Material conditions in the disciplinary
unit at Linhó Prison were unchanged and, in particular,
the four bar-fronted disciplinary cells to which reference
was made in the report on the first visit (11)
were still being used to hold prisoners undergoing disciplinary
sanctions. As the Committee has already had occasion to
observe, these cells constitute an unduly harsh environment
in which to place such prisoners. The cells in question
should only be used as a temporary holding area for prisoners
exhibiting violent behaviour. The Committee recommends
that they no longer be used for any other purpose.
140. The disciplinary cell at the Oporto
Judicial Police Prison measured just under 7 m² and
was fitted with a sleeping platform, a lavatory and a wash
basin. It had recently been renovated to a high standard
and provided clean and decent conditions of detention. Mattresses
and blankets were provided to persons held there overnight.
141. The response of the Portuguese
Government makes clear that instructions have been issued
by the Directorate of Prison Administration to the effect
that prisoners undergoing cellular confinement as a punishment
are to be offered one hour of outdoor exercise every day
(cf. paragraph 88 of the response). Nevertheless, in the
course of the second periodic visit, the delegation found
that prisoners undergoing that disciplinary sanction in
the establishments visited were still not being offered
outdoor exercise. This situation is not acceptable.
The CPT recommends that all necessary
steps be taken - without delay - in order to ensure that
all prisoners without exception are offered the opportunity
to take at least one hour of outdoor exercise every day.
c. complaints and inspection procedures
142. The importance accorded by the
Portuguese authorities to the provision of effective complaints
and inspection procedures is highlighted by the fact that,
on 27 April 1993, the Minister of Justice appointed a Committee
to examine, inter alia, the role and degree of autonomy
of prison inspectorate services (cf. paragraph 89 of the
response). The inspectorate services have subsequently been
re-structured in order to render them more accessible to
prisoners and to increase their impact and effectiveness.
As part of that process, the co-ordination of their work
has been entrusted to a magistrate. The Committee welcomes
these developments and would like to receive an account
of the recent activities of the restructured inspectorate
services, together with copies of any reports on prison
inspections which they may have produced.
143. The follow-up report from the Portuguese
authorities states that prisoners may correspond, without
control by the prison authorities, with the President of
the Republic, the President of the National Assembly, the
Prime Minister, the General Public Prosecutor of the Republic,
the supervisory judge, the Minister for Justice, the Director
General of the Prison Service, consular and diplomatic authorities
and the European Commission of Human Rights.
The CPT would like to receive further
information about the legal provisions regulating this right
and invites the Portuguese authorities to consider granting
prisoners a similar right of confidential access to the
President of the CPT.
d. contact with the outside world
144. The CPT's delegation was concerned
to find that there had been no change in the visiting room
at the Judicial Police Prison in Lisbon since the 1992 visit.
That room, which three years ago had been described as "inhuman"
by senior staff in the establishment, continued to provide
a most repressive visiting environment. The response of
the Portuguese authorities accepts that the room is inadequate
and makes reference to planned alterations (cf. paragraph
90 of the response).
Regrettably, similar facilities were
seen at the Oporto Judicial Police Prison. There - as in
Lisbon - prisoners and visitors stood facing each other
on opposite sides of a barrier which consisted of wire mesh
enclosing metal bars. The lighting in the room was poor
and, at the time of the delegation's visit, a cacophonous
noise was being created by four prisoners and twelve visitors
who could only hear each other if they shouted. The delegation
was told that the room could be used by as many as seven
prisoners and twenty-one visitors, at which level of occupancy
the din must be deafening.
The Committee recommends that urgent
steps be taken to improve the facilities for family visits
at Lisbon and Oporto Judicial Police Prisons.
145. The visiting facilities at Linhó
Prison remained of an acceptable standard and those at Oporto
Prison were not visited by the delegation.
146. In its 1992 report, the CPT emphasised
the importance of giving prisoners (especially those who
do not receive regular visits) improved opportunities for
telephone contact with their families. It was therefore
very pleased to note from the response (and to confirm by
its on-site observations in the establishments visited)
that prisoners are being given more regular access to card-operated
telephones.
The Committee welcomes this development
and would like to receive confirmation that card-operated
telephones have now been installed in all prisons in Portugal,
for use by both convicted and unconvicted prisoners.
e. call systems
147. The delegation found that, in
line with the CPT's 1992 recommendation, the in-cell call
system at Lisbon Judicial Police Prison had been repaired.
Oporto Judicial Police Prison was equipped with a modern
and effective call system linked to a central monitoring
point. By contrast, the call system at Linhó Prison
remained out of service, as did that in C wing at Oporto
Prison.
The CPT wishes to recall that call systems
can significantly reduce the risk of a prisoner in need
of assistance being left unattended. It recommends that
a high priority be given to work designed to provide all
cells with such a system, preferably linked to a central
monitoring point, staffed on a permanent basis.
f. carrying of firearms in direct contact
with prisoners
148. At the Judicial Police Prison in Lisbon it became apparent
that certain custodial officers who worked inside the prison
in direct contact with prisoners carried firearms whilst
on duty. There appeared to be no clear policy on this question
at that establishment or in other prisons in Portugal.
149. In the view of the CPT, the
carrying of firearms by staff who are in direct contact
with prisoners is a dangerous and undesirable practice.
It could lead to high-risk situations for both prisoners
and prison officers. In this respect, reference might
also be made to the provisions of Rule 63(3) of the European
Prison Rules, which stipulate that:
"Except in exceptional circumstances,
staff performing duties which bring them into direct contact
with prisoners should not be armed. Furthermore, staff should
in no circumstances be provided with arms unless they have
been fully trained in their use."
C. Detention centres
for minors
1. Introduction
150. The CPT's delegation visited two
centres for minors in Portugal: the Observation and Social
Action Centre (COAS) in Lisbon, a place of provisional placement
and assessment, and the Padre Antonio de Oliveira Re-education
Centre in Caxias, an establishment for the execution of
definitive placement measures. Both centres admitted boys
aged twelve or more and under the age of criminal responsibility
(16 years of age); however, they could continue to accommodate
minors until they reached the age of 18 and, exceptionally,
younger boys could also be admitted.
The delegation was informed that the
period of assessment (12) at the Lisbon COAS was two months. The competent authority
would then make a formal decision regarding the regime to
be followed by the minor and, where appropriate, the institution
where a placement measure should be effected. The delegation
was informed that a boy can nevertheless remain at the Lisbon
COAS for several months or even years, in so-called social
cases (homeless or abandoned boys) or if placement in a
suitable home or institution proved difficult.
The average length of stay at the Padre
Antonio de Oliveira Re-education Centre was of some two
years. In addition to inmates undergoing a placement measure,
the Centre also provided benevolent accommodation for a
small number of boys no longer undergoing such a measure,
until they reached the age of eighteen; they were housed
in quite distinct premises.
2. Ill-treatment
of detained minors
151. With one exception, the CPT's
delegation heard no allegations of ill-treatment of minors
held in the establishments visited and gathered no other
evidence of such treatment. More generally, day to day relations
between minors and staff appeared to be good.
152. The exception related to a case
mentioned to the CPT's delegation by several minors at the
Lisbon COAS and subsequently confirmed by the Centre's Director.
It appears that, some months earlier, a member of staff
(a monitor) twisted a young boy's wrist and kicked him twice.
The Director of the Lisbon COAS declared that he considered
such treatment unacceptable and that, consequently, action
had been taken expeditiously at an administrative level
and the monitor concerned dismissed.
153. More generally, at both establishments
visited, some boys stated that an occasional slap could
be given by monitors to encourage them to behave in an appropriate
manner. Indeed, a monitor with whom the delegation spoke
at the Padre Antonio de Oliveira Re-education Centre said
that the administration of a "pedagogic" slap
was not entirely unknown.
In the interests of the prevention
of ill-treatment, the CPT believes that it would be preferable
for all forms of physical chastisement of children to be
both formally prohibited and avoided in practice.
3. Conditions
of detention
154. The Lisbon COAS had an official
capacity of 45 boys and, at the time of the visit, was accommodating
52 (of whom, the most recent arrival was aged 7). The Centre's
premises were relatively modern and were spacious, well-equipped
and in a reasonable state of repair.
155. After an initial assessment in
an admissions unit (originally designed as an isolation
or secure facility), boys were distributed roughly according
to their age, with one section reserved for those who were
considered less manageable.
The younger boys were accommodated in
good-sized dormitories with four or five beds each. Most
of the older boys were accommodated in rooms designed for
single occupancy (of approximately 7.5 m²). However,
the delegation was told that, in some of the rooms, an additional
boy had to sleep on a mattress on the floor. In this respect,
the CPT would point out that the size of the rooms rendered
them barely appropriate for double occupancy.
On the whole, inmate accommodation was
comfortably furnished, well lit and ventilated. Rooms in
the admissions unit had barred windows and, due to their
location, benefitted from limited access to natural light;
however, they were only used for sleeping purposes. One
other room (said to have been adapted to accommodate a particularly
troublesome and destructive minor) had a double grid of
bars on the window and was spartanly furnished with a bed,
table and chair.
156. The CPT's delegation received contradictory
information as regards access to sanitary facilities during
the night. Whilst the management and staff of the Centre
stated that doors were only locked during two hours after
the boys went to sleep (i.e. from 11pm to 1am), boys interviewed
by the delegation affirmed that the period of time during
which they were locked in their rooms was much longer. Some
of the younger boys told the delegation that on occasion
they had to urinate out of the window while locked. Further,
those accommodated in the admissions unit stated that they
were locked throughout the night and were provided with
buckets in order to allow them to comply with the needs
of nature during that time.
The CPT recommends that appropriate
steps be taken to ensure that boys held at the Lisbon COAS
have ready access to proper sanitary facilities at all times
(including at night).
157. Efforts were made to keep all boys
occupied during the day. For this purpose, the Centre had
numerous and well-equipped activity rooms and workshops
(dance, theatre, photography, plastic arts, pottery, etc.)
and sports facilities. The Centre also offered primary education,
and some boys were allowed to attend an outside secondary
school. Further, the minors also had access to common rooms,
equipped with TV, games, etc.
158. At the time of the visit, the
Padre Antonio de Oliveira Re-education Centre was operating
well under its potential capacity. Some 40 boys undergoing
a placement measure were distributed between three units,
mostly in rooms designed for individual occupancy, which
were of an adequate size for that purpose (7 to 8 m²)
and some in dormitories, all of which were reasonably furnished,
well lit and ventilated. However, the delegation observed
a large number of broken window panes; the CPT recommends
that broken window panes in premises used by inmates be
replaced.
159. As at the Lisbon COAS, inmates
at the Padre Antonio de Oliveira Re-education Centre were
provided with a range of activities during the day (school,
vocational training and workshops, sport and leisure activities);
they also had access to large and reasonably equipped common
rooms.
The regime was relatively relaxed. Boys
were graded, having regard to their behaviour and reliability;
this grading determined whether or not the boys concerned
were allowed to leave the Centre and the conditions applicable
to their absence (i.e. duration of absence; supervised/unsupervised).
160. Certain members of staff at the
Padre Antonio de Oliveira Re-education Centre stated that
the Centre was not suitably staffed and equipped to guide
and motivate the more troublesome or disturbed boys. This
was said to be aggravated by the fact that it was relatively
easy for boys to leave the Centre without permission and
by the variety of reasons for which they had been placed
there (vagrancy, mendicancy, parental ill-treatment, unruliness,
drug abuse, criminality). Similar remarks, regarding the
difficulties and negative effects of having a heterogeneous
group of boys, were made by staff at the Lisbon COAS.
It should be added that certain boys,
particularly at the Padre Antonio de Oliveira Re-education
Centre, expressed concern about being drawn into drug abuse
by other inmates; one boy stated that he had constantly
to resist such pressures.
The CPT would like to receive the
views of the Portuguese authorities on these matters.
4. Discipline
161. In both detention centres for
minors visited, the sanctions which could be imposed ranged
from a verbal reprimand to isolation. The most common sanctions
appeared to be reprimand, reparation of damage caused or,
particularly at the Padre Antonio de Oliveira Re-education
Centre, the payment of a fine or loss of pocket money. Sanctions
were imposed initially by educators. In most cases the Director
merely had to be informed of the measure; however, the most
serious cases required his/her approval.
162. The CPT was particularly concerned
to learn that there was no formal limit to the duration
of an isolation measure; its delegation was told that such
measures would normally fall short of 48 hours, although
on occasion the time spent in isolation could rise to 5
days. However, members of staff at the Padre Antonio de
Oliveira Re-education Centre told the delegation that a
boy had in the recent past been admitted to that Centre
subject to a thirty day isolation measure; apparently, the
Centre had had to apply that measure, which had been decided
by a higher authority.
Further, a boy interviewed at the Lisbon
COAS told the delegation that he had been confined to his
room as a punishment during a period of 15 days, a measure
which had been lifted on the first day of the delegation's
visit.
As regards the material conditions in
which isolation measures were implemented, at the Lisbon
COAS, boys subject to such a sanction remained in their
own room; however, at the Padre Antonio de Oliveira Re-education
Centre they were placed in a bare room (furnished only with
a mattress and a chamber pot). In neither centre were children
allowed outdoor exercise while in isolation as a disciplinary
measure, though they were allowed out of the room to use
the sanitary facilities and, at the Padre Antonio de Oliveira
Re-education Centre, to eat.
163. The CPT's delegation gathered
no evidence of undue resort to disciplinary sanctions. Nevertheless,
existing procedures in this very sensitive area could usefully
be developed as regards both formal safeguards and the recording
of sanctions imposed.
The CPT recommends:
- that a minor be guaranteed a right
to be heard on the subject of the offence which it is alleged
he has committed;
- that there be a formally recognised
right of appeal to a higher authority against sanctions
imposed (e.g. to the Director of the Centre, as regards
sanctions imposed by educators, and to the competent judge,
as regards sanctions imposed by the Director);
- that a specific register be kept
in each Centre, containing full details of all disciplinary
sanctions imposed.
164. As regards, more particularly,
sanctions involving the isolation of a minor, the CPT
recommends:
- that resort to that sanction be
regarded as an exceptional measure and made the subject
of a notification to the competent judge;
- that it be served in a suitably
equipped room (with at least a bed, table and chair);
- that minors undergoing a measure
of isolation as a sanction be provided with reading matter
and allowed at least one hour of outdoor exercise every
day;
- that the maximum possible duration
of such a measure be formally laid down and that the measure
never be applied for longer than is strictly necessary.
5. Medical issues
165. The level of medical provision
at the Lisbon COAS and at the Padre Antonio de Oliveira
Re-education Centre seemed on the whole to be adequate.
General medical care of minors in the two centres was provided
by doctors attending them on a part-time basis and a nurse
(at the Lisbon COAS) or an educator (at the Padre Antonio
de Oliveira Re-education Centre). In addition, specialist
care, including dental care, was assured by outside professionals/institutions.
It appeared that, on occasion (including
in certain psychiatric cases), the two Centres relied upon
San João de Deus Prison Hospital at Caxias. The
CPT would like to receive further information on this matter.
166. From conversations held with staff
in the two Centres visited, it transpired that certain medical
information was included in the minor's administrative file.
Moreover, standardised medical record forms were not in
use at either establishment (cf. also paragraph 129).
At the Padre Antonio de Oliveira Re-education
Centre, medical information (apparently including the result
of HIV antibody screening) was handled by non-medical members
of staff. The CPT would emphasise that such information
should be protected by strict medical confidentiality and
recommends that appropriate measures be taken to ensure
that this is the case.
Further, the CPT would like to receive
information about the approach adopted as regards HIV testing
of minors, including in respect of the provision of counselling.
III. RECAPITULATION
AND CONCLUSIONS
A. Police establishments
167. In the course of the second periodic
visit to Portugal, the CPT's delegation spoke to many persons
about their experiences while in police custody, of whom
a significant proportion alleged that they had been ill-treated.
As during the CPT's first visit to Portugal
in 1992, the principal form of ill-treatment alleged was
physical assault (i.e. kicks and blows with fists, truncheons
or batons). Further, the delegation again heard a few allegations
that detained persons had been subjected to simultaneous
blows to both ears with telephone directories or beaten
on the soles of their feet. There were also frequent allegations
about the excessive use of force at the time of arrest.
The allegations of ill-treatment concerned
principally the Public Security Police (PSP) and, to a lesser
extent, the National Republican Guard (GNR). The delegation
heard comparatively few allegations of ill-treatment by
the Judicial Police (PJ); however, the report makes reference
to a particularly grave allegation concerning the Serious
Crime Squad (the DCCB) of the PJ in Lisbon.
168. On examination by the delegation's
doctors, a number of the persons who alleged that they had
been ill-treated by the police were found to display marks
or conditions consistent with their allegations.
Reference should also be made to the
numerous non-standard clubs or batons (quite unlike ordinary
police truncheons) which were found in a number of the PSP
stations visited by the delegation. Moreover, in certain
cases (notably at the PSP Station at Rua André Resende,
Benfica and at Rua Naulila, Oporto), the CPT's delegation
found objects fitting the descriptions previously received
of instruments allegedly used to ill-treat detained persons.
Similarly, at the DCCB in Lisbon, the delegation found a
home-made baton which closely corresponded to a prisoner's
description of an object which he thought could have been
used to ill-treat him.
169. In the light of both the information
gathered during the second periodic visit and of the statistics
about complaints of ill-treatment in recent years provided
by the Portuguese authorities, the CPT has not felt able
to modify the conclusion drawn following its 1992 visit,
namely that the ill-treatment of persons in police custody
is a relatively common phenomenon. That conclusion remains
especially pertinent as regards the Public Security Police.
170. In order to address this situation,
the CPT has recommended that senior law enforcement officials
be required to deliver to their subordinates the clear message
that the ill-treatment of detained persons is not acceptable
and will be dealt with severely. Further, it has reiterated
its 1992 recommendations that a very high priority be given
to human rights education and professional training for
law enforcement officials of all ranks and categories, that
an aptitude for interpersonal communication be a major factor
in the process of recruiting law enforcement officials and
that, during the training of such officials, considerable
emphasis be placed on acquiring and developing interpersonal
communication skills.
The Committee has also emphasised that
one of the most effective means of preventing ill-treatment
by public officials lies in the diligent examination of
all complaints of such treatment and, where appropriate,
the imposition of suitable penalties; this will have a very
strong dissuasive effect.
171. Further, the CPT has highlighted
the potential importance of the role of forensic doctors
in the prevention of ill-treatment, given the considerable
weight that their findings will have in legal or disciplinary
proceedings. It has recommended that whenever a public prosecutor
or investigating judge receives a complaint of ill-treatment
by the police, or observes that someone brought before him
could have been a victim of ill-treatment, he should immediately
request a forensic medical examination of the person concerned
and bring the matter to the attention of the relevant public
prosecutor. It has also been recommended that persons taken
into police custody who are subsequently released without
being brought before a public prosecutor or judge should
be able independently to solicit a medical examination/certificate
from the relevant forensic institute.
172. As regards, more particularly,
the allegations heard of ill-treatment at the time of arrest,
the CPT has recommended that police officers be reminded
that no more force than is reasonably necessary should be
used when effecting an arrest and that once arrested persons
have been brought under control, there can be no justification
for striking them.
173. In the report drawn up following
the first periodic visit to Portugal, the CPT examined in
some detail the safeguards against ill-treatment which are
offered to detained persons. A number of recommendations
were made on this subject (in particular, as regards notification
of custody, access to a lawyer and access to a doctor).
Regrettably, there has been little progress in implementing
those core recommendations. One interesting development
has been the production of a draft information sheet for
detained persons, setting out some of their rights; however,
the Committee has made clear that this does not obviate
the need to place all the rights of detained persons on
a firm legal footing.
Consequently, the CPT has reiterated
its 1992 recommendations and has made a number of other
recommendations and remarks about the safeguards to be afforded
to all persons detained by the police (including as regards
the conduct of interrogations, custody registers, inspection
procedures and the return to police custody for further
questioning of persons held in prison).
174. The CPT was pleased to note that
genuine efforts are being made to improve material conditions
of detention in police establishments.
A marked amelioration was observed in
the holding facilities of the PSP in Lisbon (at the Governo
Civil), although there was still room for improvement as
regards access to natural light and the provision of mattresses.
Good (or even very good) material conditions
were found in a few of the establishments visited; however,
in certain other establishments, the CPT's delegation identified
shortcomings concerning inter alia the size of cells, sleeping
arrangements and lighting.
175. The CPT has recommended that conditions
of detention in the police establishments visited be reviewed
in the light of its remarks. More generally, it has recommended
that the Portuguese authorities continue to make efforts
to ensure that the conditions of detention in police establishments
in general meet all the criteria in the Committee's report.
B. Prisons
176. The CPT's delegation received
no allegations of torture of prisoners by prison staff in
any of the establishments visited or in other prisons in
Portugal. Further, with the notable exception of Lisbon
Judicial Police Prison, very few allegations were received
of other forms of ill-treatment of inmates by prison staff
in Portugal.
A considerable number of allegations
of physical ill-treatment of prisoners by prison staff were
heard at Lisbon Judicial Police Prison. The allegations
- which were similar to those heard during the first periodic
visit - were consistent in a number of important respects.
Moreover, a prisoner seen by the delegation's doctor displayed
injuries which were consistent with his allegations of ill-treatment.
Those factors, taken together with other
indications of the existence of unofficial quasi-disciplinary
practices at the establishment, have led the CPT to insist
upon the need for a thorough and independent investigation
into the possible ill-treatment of prisoners at Lisbon Judicial
Police Prison. The Committee has asked to receive - as soon
as possible - information on the conduct of that investigation,
together with details of its findings and of any action
taken upon them.
177. In its consideration of the conditions
of detention in the establishments visited, the Committee
has paid particular attention to the issues of the eradication
of overcrowding, provision of ready access to a lavatory
at all times and improvement of regime activities.
178. At the two establishments which
were the subject of follow-up visits - Lisbon Judicial Police
Prison and Linhó Prison - some notable improvements
had been made since the first periodic visit. Nevertheless,
both establishments remained blighted by overcrowding; there
were significant limitations upon access to toilet facilities
at Linhó; and the regimes offered to most prisoners
at Lisbon Judicial Police Prison and to "inactive"
inmates at Linhó were underdeveloped.
179. Overcrowding, inadequate access
to proper sanitary facilities and poor regime activities
were all present in Oporto Judicial Police Prison and C
wing at Oporto Prison (the only part of the establishment
visited by the CPT's delegation). In both establishments,
additional elements rendered the position of the prisoners
held there even more objectionable. In Oporto Judicial Police
Prison, there was a complete denial of outdoor exercise
and in C wing at Oporto Prison, inmates lived in a potentially
perilous environment, as a direct result of a lack of effective
staff supervision. In the view of the CPT, most inmates
at Oporto Judicial Police Prison and all inmates in C wing
at Oporto Prison were being held in inhuman and degrading
conditions.
180. The Committee has recognised that
the reduction of overcrowding has a pivotal role to play
in improving other aspects of conditions of detention in
the establishments visited. It has noted, in this respect,
that a major prison building/renovation programme is underway.
However, the CPT has expressed doubts about whether building
new prison accommodation will, in itself, provide a lasting
solution; it may well be that more radical policies will
be required to tackle this phenomenon. The Committee has
recommended that a very high priority continue to be given
to measures designed to bring about a permanent end to overcrowding.
The Committee has requested detailed
information about the plans of the Portuguese authorities
to provide inmates with ready access to a lavatory at all
times. It has recommended that a very high priority be given
to this goal and that, in prisons or parts of prisons where
inmates do not yet have ready access at all times to proper
sanitary facilities, prison officers receive instructions
to the effect that a request made by a prisoner to be released
from his cell or dormitory during the day for the purpose
of using a lavatory should be granted, unless significant
security considerations require otherwise.
The CPT has also recommended a number
of short to medium term measures designed to improve regime
activities: e.g. immediate steps to ensure that inmates
at Oporto Judicial Police Prison are offered at least one
hour of outdoor exercise every day; prisoners held on remand
in the Lisbon and Oporto Judicial Police Prisons to be relocated
to normal remand prisons; additional activities to be developed
for "inactive" prisoners at Linhó Prison
(and, if appropriate, in other establishments for sentenced
prisoners where such inmates are to be found).
181. Having regard to the gravity of
the situation observed by its delegation in C wing at Oporto
Prison, the CPT has called upon the Portuguese authorities
to carry out a full review of conditions of detention there,
with the aim of ensuring that the physical and mental integrity
of inmates is guaranteed.
182. As regards prison health care services,
the CPT has noted that staffing levels had been significantly
augmented in the two establishments visited on a follow-up
basis. By contrast, the health care service at Oporto Prison
was in a state of crisis; one full-time doctor and the equivalent
of three full-time nurses were attempting to provide health
care to more than 1000 male prisoners. The CPT has therefore
recommended that immediate steps be taken to reinforce the
health care team responsible for male prisoners at that
establishment. As regards Oporto Judicial Police Prison,
the Committee has recommended that nursing provision be
reinforced and health care facilities improved. Further,
the CPT has made comments on a number of other health-related
matters.
183. The Committee has also made a number
of recommendations and comments about a variety of other
issues of relevance to its mandate (solitary confinement,
discipline, complaints and inspection procedures, contact
with the outside world, call systems and the carrying of
firearms in direct contact with prisoners). Of these, it
would emphasise its recommendations that the necessary steps
be taken - without delay - in order to ensure that all prisoners
(including those undergoing cellular confinement as a punishment)
are offered at least one hour of outdoor exercise every
day, and that urgent steps be taken to improve the facilities
for family visits at Lisbon and Oporto Judicial Police Prisons.
C. Detention centres
for minors
184. With one exception, the CPT's
delegation heard no allegations of ill-treatment of minors
held in either of the establishments visited. The exception
related to a monitor at the Observation and Social Action
Centre (COAS) in Lisbon who apparently had twisted a young
boy's wrist and kicked him twice some months before the
CPT's visit. Action had been taken at an administrative
level and the member of staff concerned had been dismissed.
However, it appeared that, at both the
Lisbon COAS and at the Padre Antonio de Oliveira Re-education
Centre, the administration of a "pedagogic" slap
was not entirely unknown. In the interests of prevention
of ill-treatment, it would be far preferable for all forms
of physical chastisement of children to be both formally
prohibited and avoided in practice.
185. Material conditions were found,
on the whole, to be quite satisfactory, as were activities
and health care. However, some recommendations and comments
have been made with a view to remedying certain specific
shortcomings (occupancy level in certain rooms, access to
sanitary facilities, etc.).
186. A number of remarks have also been
made concerning the disciplinary sanctions which could be
applied. The CPT was particularly concerned to note that
there was no formal limit to the length of time for which
a minor could be subjected to the disciplinary sanction
of isolation; further, in some cases such measures were
served in extremely spartan conditions.
The CPT has therefore recommended that
resort to isolation as a sanction be regarded as an exceptional
measure and made the subject of a notification to the competent
judge; that it be served in a suitably equipped room; that
minors undergoing such a measure be provided with reading
matter and allowed at least one hour of outdoor exercise
every day; that its maximum possible duration be formally
laid down and that the measure never be applied for longer
than is strictly necessary.
More generally, the CPT has made a number
of recommendations designed to develop existing disciplinary
procedures as regards both formal safeguards and the recording
of sanctions imposed.
D. Action on the
CPT's recommendations, comments and requests for information
187. The various recommendations, comments
and requests for information formulated by the CPT are summarised
in Appendix I.
188. As regards more particularly the
CPT's recommendations, having regard to Article 10 of the
Convention, the CPT requests the Portuguese authorities:
i) to provide within six months an interim
report giving details of how it is intended to implement
the CPT's recommendations and, as the case may be, providing
an account of action already taken (N.B. the CPT has indicated
the urgency of certain of its recommendations);
ii) to provide within twelve months
a follow-up report providing a full account of action taken
to implement the CPT's recommendations.
The CPT trusts that it will also be
possible for the Portuguese authorities to provide in the
above-mentioned interim report reactions to the comments
formulated in this report which are summarised in Appendix
I as well as replies to the requests for information made.
APPENDIX I
SUMMARY OF THE CPT'S RECOMMENDATIONS, COMMENTS AND
REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION
A. Police establishments
1. Torture and other forms of ill-treatment
recommendations
- senior law enforcement officials to
deliver to their subordinates the clear message that the
ill-treatment of detained persons is not acceptable and
will be dealt with severely. In this context, the attention
of police officers to be drawn in particular to the new
provisions of the Criminal Code concerning the offences
of torture and other cruel, degrading or inhuman treatment
and of failure, on the part of a hierarchical superior,
to report such conduct within three days of acquiring knowledge
of its commission (paragraph 28);
- police officers to be reminded that
no more force than is reasonably necessary should be used
when effecting an arrest, that once arrested persons have
been brought under control there can be no justification
for striking them, and that it would be completely unacceptable
for police officers not to intervene if they witness a person
whom they intend to detain being assaulted by members of
the public (paragraph 29);
- a very high priority to be given to
human rights education and professional training -both initial
and ongoing - for police officers of all ranks and categories.
Experts not belonging to the police forces to be involved
in that education and training (paragraph 30);
- an aptitude for interpersonal communication
to be a major factor in the process of recruiting police
officers and considerable emphasis to be placed on acquiring
and developing interpersonal communication skills during
the training of such officers (paragraph 30);
- whenever they receive a complaint
of ill-treatment by the police or observe that someone brought
before them could have been a victim of ill-treatment, public
prosecutors or investigating judges should immediately request
a forensic medical examination of the person concerned and
bring the matter to the attention of the relevant public
prosecutor (paragraph 33)
- persons taken into police custody
who are subsequently released without being brought before
a public prosecutor or judge should be able independently
to solicit a medical examination/certificate from the relevant
forensic institute (paragraph 33);
- urgent steps to be taken to ensure
that any weapons held on police premises as pieces of evidence
are properly labelled and held in a secure and centralised
location designed for that purpose, and that no other non
standard-issue weapons are held on police premises (paragraph
34).
requests for information
- the findings of the investigation
ordered by the Minister for Justice to which reference is
made in paragraph 26 and of any further action taken as
a result (paragraph 26);
- information on the administrative/disciplinary
procedures applied in cases of alleged ill-treatment by
the police, including full details of the guarantees ensuring
their objectivity (paragraph 31).
2. Material conditions of detention
recommendations
- conditions of detention in the different
establishments visited by the delegation to be reviewed,
in the light of the remarks made in paragraphs 37 to 46
(paragraph 47);
- continued efforts to be made to ensure
that the conditions of detention in police establishments
in general meet all the requirements indicated in paragraph
35 (paragraph 47).
3. Safeguards against the ill-treatment
of detained persons
recommendations
- steps to be taken to ensure that persons
detained under Article 250 of the Code of Criminal Procedure
benefit from the rights set out in Article 61(1) of that
Code and the other safeguards discussed in the CPT's report,
as from the moment when they are first obliged to remain
with the police (paragraph 49);
- the right to have someone informed
of the fact of one's custody to be given a firm legal basis
(paragraph 52);
- appropriate steps to be taken to ensure
that all persons taken into police custody are placed in
a position effectively to exercise their right to have access
to a lawyer, as from the outset of their custody. Preferably,
they should benefit from the presence of a lawyer during
questioning (paragraph 54);
- a person detained by the police to
have a right of access to a doctor of his own choice, in
addition to any doctor called by the police (paragraph 55);
- all medical examinations of persons
in police custody to be conducted out of the hearing and,
unless the doctor concerned requests otherwise, out of the
sight of police officers (paragraph 55);
- the results of all medical examinations
as well as relevant statements by the detainee and the doctor's
conclusions to be formally recorded by the doctor and made
available to the detainee and his lawyer (paragraph 55);
- the draft information sheet for persons
detained by the police to be formally adopted as soon as
possible, translated into an appropriate range of languages,
given without delay to detained persons and the latter asked
to sign a statement indicating that they have received a
copy (paragraph 58);
- a code of conduct for police interrogations
to be drawn up without delay. The code of conduct to address
inter alia the following matters: the systematic informing
of the detainee of the identity (name and/or identity number)
of those present at the interview; the permissible length
of an interview; rest periods between interviews and breaks
during an interview; places in which an interview may take
place; whether the detainee may be required to stand while
being questioned; the interviewing of persons who are under
the influence of drugs, alcohol, medicine, or who are in
a post-traumatic state; the code also to provide that a
record be kept of the time at which interviews start and
end, of any request made by the detainee during an interview,
and of the persons present during each interview. The position
of specially vulnerable persons (for example, the young,
those who are mentally disabled or mentally ill) to be the
subject of specific safeguards (paragraph 59);
- the possibility of developing an individualised
custody record to be explored. Such a custody record should
contain information on all relevant aspects of a detainee's
custody and action taken regarding them (time of and reason(s)
for the arrest; time of arrival on police premises; when
informed of rights; signs of injury, health problems, mental
disorder etc.; contacts with and/or visits from next of
kin, lawyer, doctor or consular official; when offered food;
when questioned; when brought before the relevant judge,
when transferred, released, etc.). For certain matters (for
example, personal belongings removed, the fact of being
informed of his rights and of invoking or waiving them),
the detainee's signature should be obtained and, if necessary,
the absence of a signature explained. The detainee's lawyer
should have access to such a custody record (paragraph 62);
- whenever a person is detained in a
police establishment, for whatever reason (including for
identification purposes) and for whatever length of time,
the fact of his detention to be recorded without delay (paragraph
63);
- competent judicial authorities and/or
public prosecutors to be encouraged to exercise on-the-spot
supervision of places of detention (paragraph 66).
comments
- the CPT trusts that the measures taken
to implement the recommendations set out in paragraphs 49
to 56 will, as appropriate, be taken into account in any
future revisions of the information sheet for persons detained
by the police (paragraph 58);
- the Portuguese authorities are invited
to consider the possibility of introducing a system for
the electronic recording of police interrogations. The system
should offer all appropriate safeguards (for example, the
consent of the detainee and the use of two tapes, one of
which would be sealed in the presence of the detainee and
the other used as a working copy) (paragraph 61);
- from the standpoint of the prevention
of ill-treatment, it would be far preferable for further
questioning of persons committed to prison to take place
within the establishment concerned rather than on police
premises. The return of remand prisoners to police custody
for further questioning should only be sought and authorised
when it is absolutely unavoidable; consequently, it would
be appropriate for such a measure to require the express
authorisation of the competent judicial authority. Further,
in principle, a person returned to police custody should
not be kept on police premises overnight (paragraph 67).
requests for information
- details of the training and/or instructions
given to police officers about the attitude to adopt towards
detainees who are drug-addicts or who suffer from somatic
or mental conditions (paragraph 56);
- whether the performance of an unlawful
interview of a detainee by a Public Security Police or National
Republican Guard officer attracts disciplinary and/or criminal
sanctions (paragraph 60);
- a copy of the decree creating the
Ministry of the Interior inspectorate, and information on
any investigations and/or inspections which it may have
undertaken in respect of the Public Security Police and
the National Republican Guard (paragraph 64);
- the planned scope and scale of future
visits to police stations in Portugal by the Ombudsman,
together with copies of any reports produced after such
visits (paragraph 65).
B. Prisons
1. Torture and other forms of ill-treatment
requests for information
- information on the conduct of the
investigation into the possible ill-treatment of prisoners
in Lisbon Judicial Police Prison, together with details
of the findings and of any action taken upon them (paragraph
73);
- for 1994 and 1995:
the number of complaints of ill-treatment
lodged against prison officers in Portugal and the number
of disciplinary/criminal proceedings initiated as a result
of such complaints;
an account of criminal/disciplinary sanctions imposed following
complaints of ill-treatment by prison officers (paragraph
74);
- regularly updated information on the number of complaints
of ill-treatment lodged against prison officers in Portugal,
on the number of criminal/disciplinary proceedings initiated
as a result of such complaints and on the criminal/disciplinary
sanctions imposed (paragraph 74).
2. Conditions of detention
recommendations
- stone breaking activities at Linhó
Prison to be replaced by other work of a more challenging
and vocational nature (paragraph 81);
- a very high priority to continue to
be given to measures designed to bring about a permanent
end to overcrowding, taking into account the Committee's
remarks in paragraph 98 (paragraph 98);
- a very high priority to continue to
be given to plans to provide all prisoners in Portugal with
ready access to a lavatory at all times, taking into account
the Committee's remarks in paragraph 99 (paragraph 99);
- in prisons or parts of prisons where
inmates do not yet have ready access at all times to proper
sanitary facilities, prison officers to receive instructions
to the effect that a request made by a prisoner to be released
from his cell or dormitory during the day for the purpose
of using a lavatory is to be granted, unless significant
security considerations require otherwise (paragraph 101);
- steps to be taken immediately to ensure
that inmates at Oporto Judicial Police Prison are offered
at least one hour of outdoor exercise every day (paragraph
102);
- remand prisoners held at the Judicial
Police Prisons in Lisbon and Oporto to be relocated to normal
remand prisons as soon as the required places become available
(paragraph 103);
- as regards the regime offered in remand
prisons, the objective to be to ensure that prisoners can
spend a reasonable part of the day (i.e. eight hours or
more) outside their cells, engaged in purposeful activities
of a varied nature (group association activities, education,
sport, work with vocational value) (paragraph 103);
- additional activities to be developed
for sentenced prisoners classified as "inactive"
at Linhó Prison (and, if appropriate, in other establishments
for sentenced prisoners where such inmates are to be found)
(paragraph 103);
- conditions of detention in C Wing
at Oporto Prison to be the subject of a full review, with
the aim of ensuring that the physical and mental integrity
of inmates held there is guaranteed (paragraph 104).
comments
- the CPT trusts that every effort will
continue to be made to increase the number of inmates taking
part in full-time education at Linhó Prison (paragraph
82);
- it is a matter of concern that the
number of "educational technicians" at Linhó
Prison has been reduced from five to four (paragraph 84).
requests for information
- details of plans to improve prisoners'
access to sanitary facilities and, more particularly, on
the timescale within which it is envisaged that the necessary
work will be completed (paragraph 100).
3. Health care services
recommendations
- the level of nursing provision at
Oporto Judicial Police Prison to be reinforced (paragraph
108);
- immediate steps to be taken to reinforce
the health care team responsible for male prisoners at Oporto
Prison, bearing in mind inter alia that a health care team
responsible for more than 1000 inmates should include at
least two full-time doctors (paragraph 109);
- urgent steps to be taken to ensure
that someone competent to provide first aid (preferably
someone with a recognised nursing qualification) is always
present on prison premises (paragraph 110);
- immediate steps to be taken to improve
the health care facilities at Oporto Judicial Police Prison
(paragraph 111);
- every newly arrived prisoner to be
properly interviewed and, if necessary, physically examined
by a member of the prison health-care service as soon as
possible after his admission; save for exceptional circumstances,
medical interviews/examinations to be carried out on the
day of admission, especially insofar as remand establishments
are concerned (paragraph 113);
- appropriate steps to be taken to minimise
the risk of tuberculosis being transmitted to other prisoners
or to staff by prisoners identified as having that disease
(paragraph 116);
- the record drawn up following a medical
examination of a newly admitted prisoner (or a prisoner
returning to the establishment) to contain (i) an account
of statements made by the person concerned which are relevant
to the medical examination (including his description of
his state of health and any allegations of ill-treatment),
(ii) an account of objective medical findings based on a
thorough examination, and (iii) the doctor's conclusions
in the light of (i) and (ii); the result of that medical
examination to be made available to the prisoner concerned;
the same approach to be followed whenever a prisoner is
medically examined following a violent episode in prison
(paragraph 120);
- for so long as Oporto Judicial Police
Prison continues to operate as a remand facility, inmates
held there to be provided with an adequately resourced psychiatric/psychological
service (paragraph 123);
- steps to be taken to improve the dental
services available to prisoners (paragraph 124);
- the strict confidentiality of medical
data to be guaranteed (paragraph 128).
comments
- a prison health care service should
ensure that information about transmissible diseases (in
particular hepatitis, AIDS, tuberculosis, dermatological
infections) is regularly circulated, both to prisoners and
to prison staff. Where appropriate, medical control of those
with whom a particular prisoner has regular contact (fellow
prisoners, prison staff, frequent visitors) should be carried
out (paragraph 117);
- appropriate counselling should be
provided both before and, if necessary, after any HIV screening
test. Prison staff should be provided with ongoing training
in the preventive measures to be taken and the attitudes
to be adopted regarding HIV-positivity and given appropriate
instructions concerning non-discrimination and confidentiality
(paragraph 117);
- the Portuguese authorities are invited
to pursue the adoption of a standardised medical record
form for use by doctors working in prisons (paragraph 129).
requests for information
- detailed information on the subject
of medical screening on reception in the Portuguese prison
system, with particular reference to current rules and intended
developments in respect of HIV and tuberculosis screening;
whether it is intended to extend the S.L.A.T. tuberculosis
screening programme to all prisons in Portugal (paragraph
116);
- comments on the length of the waiting
lists at the San João de Deus Prison Hospital at
Caxias and on whether general hospitals are reluctant to
admit prisoners as in-patients (paragraph 122);
- any measures envisaged by the Portuguese
authorities to address the problem of overcrowding at the
Prison Hospital at Caxias (paragraph 126);
- further details about the Sintra Prison
Psychiatric Clinic, including the date on which it entered
into service (paragraph 127);
- any further developments in respect
of the treatment of drug addicted prisoners, especially
as regards the evaluation of the "Criar" programme
(paragraph 130).
4. Other issues related to the CPT's
mandate
recommendations
- the placement of prisoners in security
establishments or sections under Articles 111 and 113 of
the Prison Rules to be reviewed in order to ensure that:
the regime applied to the occupants
of such units offers them purposeful activities and guarantees
them appropriate human contact;
no prisoner is held in such a unit for longer than is strictly
necessary;
no mentally-ill person is held in such a unit (paragraph
133);
- concrete steps to be taken to ensure that all prisoners
held under solitary confinement-type regimes are informed
in writing of the reasons for their placement (it being
understood that those reasons need not include facts which
it would be reasonable to withhold on security grounds);
that they are given an opportunity to present their views
on the matter to the relevant authority before any final
decision on placement in, or renewal of, solitary confinement
is taken; and that placement in solitary confinement for
an extended period is subject to a full review at least
once every three months, if necessary based upon a medico-social
report. Full details of the measures concerned to be transmitted
to the CPT (paragraph 135);
- the necessary steps to be taken to
ensure that whenever a prisoner placed in solitary confinement,
for whatever reason, asks for a medical doctor - or a prison
officer asks for one on his behalf - the doctor is called
immediately to examine the prisoner. The results of the
medical examination, including an assessment of the prisoner's
mental and physical state and, if necessary, the likely
consequences of continuing solitary confinement, to be set
out in a written report and sent to the relevant authorities
(paragraph 137);
- appropriate steps to be taken to ensure
that staff at Lisbon Judicial Police Prison cannot have
resort to an unofficial (and uncontrolled) disciplinary
system (paragraph 138);
- the bar-fronted disciplinary cells
at Linhó Prison no longer to be used other than as
a temporary holding area for prisoners exhibiting violent
behaviour (paragraph 139);
- all necessary steps to be taken -
without delay - in order to ensure that all prisoners without
exception are offered the opportunity to take at least one
hour of outdoor exercise every day (paragraph 141);
- urgent steps to be taken to improve
the facilities for family visits at Lisbon and Oporto Judicial
Police Prisons (paragrah 144);
- a high priority to be given to work
designed to provide all cells with a call system, preferably
linked to a central monitoring point, staffed on a permanent
basis (paragraph 147).
comments
- it is an essential safeguard that
the exact time of placement in a solitary confinement-type
regime and the reason therefor be recorded in an appropriate
register (paragraph 136);
- the Portuguese authorities are invited
to consider granting prisoners the right of confidential
access to the President of the CPT (paragraph 143);
- the carrying of firearms by staff
who are in direct contact with prisoners is a dangerous
and undesirable practice, which could lead to high-risk
situations for both prisoners and prison officers (paragraph
149).
requests for information
- the criteria used to determine whether
placement in a security establishment or section is "strictly
necessary" and the purpose which placement in such
units is intended to serve (long-term management of prisoners
considered to be "dangerous"; containment of inmates
considered to represent an escape risk; detention of prisoners
who threaten good order and discipline etc.) (paragraph
133);
- an account of the recent activities
of the restructured prison inspectorate services, together
with copies of any inspection reports which they may have
produced (paragraph 142);
- the legal provisions regulating the
right of prisoners to correspond, without control by the
prison authorities, with the President of the Republic,
the President of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister,
the General Public Prosecutor of the Republic, the supervisory
judge, the Minister for Justice, the Director General of
the Prison Service, consular and diplomatic authorities
and the European Commission of Human Rights (paragraph 143);
- confirmation that card-operated telephones
have now been installed in all prisons in Portugal, for
use by both convicted and unconvicted prisoners (paragraph
146).
C. Detention centres for minors
1. Ill-treatment of detained minors
comments
- in the interests of the prevention
of ill-treatment, it would be preferable for all forms of
physical chastisement of children to be both formally prohibited
and avoided in practice (paragraph 153).
2. Conditions of detention
recommendations
- appropriate steps to be taken to ensure
that boys held at the Observation and Social Action Centre
(COAS) in Lisbon have ready access to proper sanitary facilities
at all times (including at night) (paragraph 156);
- broken window panes in premises used
by inmates at the Padre Antonio de Oliveira Re-education
Centre to be replaced (paragraph 158).
comments
- the size of the single rooms at the
Lisbon COAS rendered them barely appropriate for double
occupancy (paragraph 155).
requests
for information
- the views of the Portuguese authorities
on the issues raised in paragraph 160 (paragraph 160).
3. Discipline
recommendations
- as regards disciplinary procedures,
the following formal safeguards to be introduced:
a minor to be guaranteed a right to
be heard on the subject of the offence which it is alleged
he has committed;
a right of appeal to a higher authority
against sanctions imposed (e.g. to the Director of the Centre,
as regards sanctions imposed by educators, and to the competent
judge, as regards sanctions imposed by the Director);
a specific register to be kept in each
Centre, containing full details of all disciplinary sanctions
imposed (paragraph 163);
- as regards sanctions involving the
isolation of a minor:
resort to that sanction to be regarded
as an exceptional measure and made the subject of a notification
to the competent judge;
the sanction to be served in a suitably
equipped room (with at least a bed, table and chair);
minors undergoing such a measure to be provided with reading
matter and to be allowed at least one hour of outdoor exercise
every day;
the maximum possible duration of that
measure to be formally laid down and the measure never to
be applied for longer than is strictly necessary (paragraph
164).
4. Medical issues
recommendations
- the strict confidentiality of medical
data to be guaranteed (paragraph 166).
requests for information
- details on the system of referrals
to San João de Deus Prison Hospital at Caxias (paragraph
165);
- the approach adopted as regards HIV
testing of minors, including in respect of the provision
of counselling (paragraph 166).
APPENDIX
II
LIST OF THE NATIONAL AUTHORITIES AND
NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS WITH WHICH THE DELEGATION HELD
CONSULTATIONS
A. National authorities
Ministry of the Interior
Dr Manuel Joaquin Dias Loureiro Minister
for the Interior
Dr Mário Gomes Dias Legal Auditor
Superintendent António Chumbinho Public Security Police
Commissar Matos Nogueira Public Security Police
Colonel João Luis Ares National Republican Guard
Ministry of Justice
Dr Alvaro José Brilhante Laborinho
Lúcio Minister for Justice
Dr Henrique Dias da Silva Assistant to the Minister for Justice
Dr Manuel Marques Ferreira Director General of the Prison
Service
Dr Celso Manata Deputy Director of the Prison Service
Dra Maria José Mota de Matos Head of Division, General
Directorate of the Prison Service
Dr José João Semedo Moreira General Directorate
of the Prison Service
Dr Mário Mendes Director General of the Judicial Police
Dra Isabel Patricio Judicial Police
Dra Rosa Maria Clemente Deputy Director General of the Minors
Protection Service
Ministry of Health
Dr João Nunes Abreu Director General
of Health
Ministry of Defence
Brigadier Rodolfo António
Cabrit Bacelar Begonha Director of the Military Judicial Police
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Dra Teresa Cunha Rêgo General Directorate
of Multilateral Affairs
Other National authorities
Dr José Narciso da Cunha Rodrigues
General Public Prosecutor of the Republic
Dr José Meneres Pimentel Ombudsman
Dr António Nadais Deputy Ombudsman
Dr António Vilhena de Carvalho Coordinator in the Ombudsman's
Office
B. Non-governmental organisations
Forum Justiça e Liberdade
O Companheiro
Footnotes
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