Written statement submitted by the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights. Torture in places of confinement
The Permanent Assembly for Human rights (APDH) in association with the National Prisoner Ombudsman (PPN) from
Argentine, a national independent institution dedicated since 1993 to the promotion and protection of human rights of
people in prison, would like to bring your attention to the situation of torture in detention centers.
The National Prisoner Ombudsman´s analysis is that torture in Federal Penitentiary Service is not an isolated event but
rather a generalized practice. This diagnosis is based on a large number of investigations carried out by the institution.
A research on 10% of the total detainee population at federal prisons, showed that 64% had been victims of torture and
ill treatment.1
The National Prisoner Ombudsman has confirmed, trough the implementation of the Investigation and documentation
of torture or ill-treatment procedure created on the principles and criteria of the Istanbul Protocol, 429 cases of torture
and ill treatment in federal prisons in 2012, in addition to a large number of unreported cases due to fear of reprisal.
While these figure indicates a 6% growth in the amount of episodes registered in comparison to the previous year; the
1358 documented cases over the 5 years of implementation of the protocol reveals that prison violence is an inherent
characteristic of penitentiaries in today´s world
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