9
Public Prosecutor] also visits the Penitentiary, which also has the daily presence
of the Defensoría Pública [Public Defender Service].
16.
That, with respect to the violence facts occurred since the issue of the last Order
of the Court, Brazil, inter alia, pointed out that:
i)
as a result of the actions effected by the State since December, 2007,
there have not been other violent deaths, escapes or rebellions at the
Penitentiary;
ii)
contrary to the representatives statements, torture is not an
institutionalized means of control at Urso Branco. Whenever acts of this nature
take place, State authorities immediately adopt the measures necessary to
investigate the facts, as in the case of the episodes of cells H4 and F6 (infra
Considering clauses No. 16.iv and 18.iii);
iii)
during the mutirão (joint collective activity), all the detainees were
heard by a judge, a prosecutor and a defense counselor and none of them
informed to have suffered sexual violence. Nonetheless, the State agreed to
investigate the facts of that nature informed by the representatives during the
public hearing, and
iv)
with respect to the violence facts occurred in cell H4 on August, 8, 2009,
that was “another consequence of a management problem of the [penitentiary]
unit.” The State informed that the prison guards found a chord connecting two
cells and as punishment they decided to take away the television, which was in
one of those cells from the detainees. As the guards did not leave any records
of that fact, a member of the team of the subsequent shift returned the TV to
the inmates, and that upset the prison guards who had removed it when they
got back to work on the next day. When they tried to remove the TV again from
the cell and before the detainees denial, “in an […] out of control act, [and]
which shows insufficient technical training”, they initially shot non-lethal
ammunition, thus generating a commotion in the Penitentiary and new
gunshots from several points of the facilities. When the situation was again
under control, a prison guard who was picking up the bullet cartridges was
verbally provoked by a detainee and, “without control”, shot with deadly
ammunition in the direction of cell H4. Consequently, four inmates were
injured, including detainee F.F.G., who suffered serious injuries to the right
hand. This beneficiary was examined by a physician, who prescribed physical
therapy and set a subsequent appointment date in order to again examine the
patient.
17.
That with respect to the implementation of these provisional measures, the
representatives admitted certain progress in the Prison control, but they stated that
the advance is specific and it “does not reflect the State policy” yet. Despite the open
competitive examinations for the hiring of new correctional officers, the state
government allegedly entered into new temporary agreements for the positions of
escort and penitentiary surveillance agents, without the open competitive examinations
or the due training. Consequently, on August 3, 2009, the Ministerio Público [Office of
the Public Prosecutor] filed a public civil action against the State of Rondônia in order
to prevent temporary hiring on the grounds that they constitute illegal acts and they
try to benefit the officers who already have temporary contracts. On August 18, 2009,
the Judicial Power granted a precautionary measure in the scope of the above