5
12.
That it is worrisome that the imminent risk to the life and physical safety of the
persons kept in custody could be posed by the state agents. In contrast with this, the
State has failed to point out concrete measures in its writings which it would have
adopted to put an end to the deaths and reported acts of torture, but it has confined
itself to providing information on how it hired new prison guards and improved
detention conditions.
13.
That Brazil is the guarantor of, and is responsible for, the life and the physical
safety of the inmates at the Urso Branco Prison, and is thus responsible for adopting all
such measures as are necessary to protect them and it must refrain, under any
circumstances, from acting in such a way that the life and physical safety of said
persons is threatened in an unjustified manner.
14.
That the Court observes that Brazil is a Federal State, and that the Urso Branco
Prison is located in one of its federal units; this, however, does not excuse the State
from fulfilling its protection obligations. The Tribunal deems that no substantial
improvement has been evidenced regarding this issue in the six years during which
these measures have been in force. The State must organize itself internally and adopt
all such measures as are necessary, according to its political-administrative
organization, to act upon these provisional measures. In that regard, the Court takes
note of the request made by the representatives at the domestic level with regard to
an intervention of the Federal Government into the prison system of the state of
Rondônia.
15.
That under the circumstances of this case, the measures adopted must include
those aimed directly at protecting the rights to life and humane treatment of the
beneficiaries, both among one another and with the state agents. Specifically, it is
essential for the State to immediately take such action as is necessary to effectively
suppress the risk of violent death and serious threat to physical integrity, preventing
its agents to commit unjustified acts which threaten life and physical safety and
forbidding torture at the prison under any circumstance. The following are essential
measures to be implemented:
a) to increase safety for prisoners;
b) to confiscate the weapons kept by the inmates;
c) to maintain State control of the prison with full regard for the human rights of
the persons kept under custody.
16.
That, for the foregoing reasons, this Tribunal considers that an extremely
serious and urgent situation posing a risk of irreparable harm persists in the Urso
Branco Prison, so it is appropriate to maintain in force the provisional measures under
which the State is under a duty to protect the life and physical safety of all persons
deprived of liberty at such prison and of all other persons in the prison.