15
conditions, while they have improved, have not done so sufficiently to eradicate the risk."
The Commission also indicated following its visit in April 2009 that "although progress has
been made, the alleged lack of security and violence that led to the request for provisional
measures persist[ed].” The Commission indicated that "with regard to the Lavalle farm
prison, […] [there was] a radical change in the situation of the beneficiaries held their, for
which reason […] it recognize[d] the significant efforts of the State […] to adequately
implement the provisional measures." However, it indicated that the State has not fully
implemented the measures ordered by the Tribunal and that it did not have "sufficient
evidence - for example the implementation of the orders of the national and provincial
Supreme Courts - to reach the conclusion that the State has taken sufficient measures."
37. The Commission viewed positively the increase in security personnel, the separation
of inmates, the improvements to the facilities, the progress in medical care, and the
resocialization programs, and the continuation of the short, medium, and long term
measures taken are a sign of the State’s willingness to comply with provisional measures.
However, it specified that the request to lift the measures should evaluate the direct
relationship between the measures and improvements made in the elimination of the
situation of risk that led to the adoption of the measures. It specified that it is crucial for
the evaluation to focus on the risk factors that introduced the violent incidents and the loss
of human lives. The Commission emphasized that among the risk factors to be highlighted
are the penitentiary security and guard conditions - particularly the lack of effective control
in the blocks - in the Gustavo André prison in Lavalle; the risk factors related to the lack of
security and emergency situations; the presence of weapons in the provincial penitentiary;
and overcrowding. It observes that there is not a close relationship between the measures
taken and the elimination of the risk factors indicated. Therefore, the Commission
highlighted that despite the increase in the number of penitentiary personnel, it cannot be
established whether this has resulted in an improvement in the security situation inside the
prison and that there is not detailed information on new guard patterns. With regard to the
presence of weapons in the prison, the Commission indicated that it does not have specific
information on the results of the inspections implemented nor on the more general
measures that have been adopted to diagnose and eliminate the causes leading to the
rearming of the penitentiary population. It also observed that the State has not submitted
information on the complaints of mistreatment during inspections. With regard to the
overcrowding, the Commission indicated that the State must make reference to what the
representatives have reported as far as the high level of overcrowding in some of the
blocks. Likewise, the Commission indicated that with regard to the incidents of suicide that
have taken place in the prison, they "have taken place in a context of violence in which the
inmates have a limited opportunity to avoid the violence to which they see themselves
exposed, for which reason they decided to isolate themselves," with the State failing to
provide detailed information on the measures taken to prevent or avoid those incidents.
38. Based on this, the Commission noted that there is no information allowing for a
reasonable degree of certainty on the elimination of risk; it recognized that there has been
a reduction in the incidents of violence, however acts of violence and fights among the
inmates still take place, causing an increase in the number of inmates in isolation. It
therefore indicated that the nonexistence of violent incidents is not the only factor that
should govern the lifting of the measures and underscored that the situation of
improvements in the conditions is due precisely to the measures adopted. It thus
highlighted that another criteria for lifting measures is the existence of internal oversight
measures on the situation inside the penitentiary. The Commission found that the