4
Prison; and also, that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights submit its
observations on said report within 15 days of its receipt.
4.
To order the State to continue reporting to the Inter-American Court of Human
Rights, every two months, on the provisional measures adopted and to submit updated
lists of all persons detained at the Urso Branco Prison, so as to identify those who have
been set free and those who enter that penitentiary; and also that the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights submit its observations regarding those reports within two
months of their receipt.
4.
The July 8, 2002 brief filed by the State, in which it submitted the report
ordered by the Court in operative paragraph three of the aforementioned Order. In
this report, it stated that, to comply with the measures ordered by the Court, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Secretary for Human Rights and the Ministry of
Justice sent an investigative mission to the State of Rondônia where it met with
various State authorities. It added that the following steps have been taken to
protect the inmates’ rights to life and to personal safety:
a)
the special police force that had been entrusted with security at the
Urso Branco Prison has gradually been substituted by penitentiary agents;
b)
a competitive public test was held to hire new penitentiary agents. 45
candidates were accepted, appointed, and began work at their posts in March,
2002;
c)
two new penitentiaries are being built in Rondônia, which will reduce
overcrowding in the Urso Branco Prison. The first, located in the city of
Guajará-Mirim, should be ready in 40 days, and will house 68 high-risk
prisoners. The second one, which should be ready in 90 days, will house 120
prisoners, and will be primarily for “safe” inmates, those who are the most
vulnerable segment of the prison population;
d)
the prison will be visited on a regular basis by the Criminal Sentence
Execution Judge, in charge of the branch of Criminal Sentence Execution; by
the State Penitentiary Council; by the Office of Court Appointed Counsel, and
by the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB/RO), with the aim of recovering
weapons made by the inmates, listening to the inmates and to the
administration, avoiding abuse and detecting critical situations that might
cause new killings or rebellions. Records must be taken of those visits and
sent to the Ministry of Justice; and
e)
the State Penitentiary Council, formed by representatives of the
Government and of civil society, was convened, and it decided to promote a
pro bono legal assistance “social service” to the prisoners, an action
coordinated by the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB/RO) with support from
university students.
As regards investigation of the facts that gave rise to these provisional measures,
the State pointed out that:
a)
an administrative process began on January 2, 2002 for the deaths
occurred at the Urso Branco Prison that same day;