17
enforcement of these provisional measures and enhances the importance that the
State continues to guarantee the access of the representatives to Urso Branco.
Likewise, the Court considers it important that the representatives also participate in a
positive manner in the planning and design of these provisional measures.
*
*
*
38.
That in the State criterion, the initiatives informed show that -despite some
bodies responsible for solving the problem may have acted in an improper manner at
some point-, there is no omission on the part of the State as to the instant case, as its
institutions are using all the available tools in order to obtain the cooperation of the
competent bodies. Brazil has emphasized that as a consequence of said efforts, there
have not been any violent deaths or mutinies at the Urso Branco Prison for almost two
years.
39.
That the representatives requested the Court: i) to keep these provisional
measures in force, and ii) to request the State to adopt measures to: a) investigate
and punish those responsible for the torture and other facts denounced which risked
the life and physical integrity of the beneficiaries, and b) to guarantee the life and
physical integrity of the victims of the denounced facts.
40.
That the Commission argued that the facts of violence, together with the poor
detention conditions, keep the beneficiaries in a situation of extreme gravity, urgency
and imminent risk. Thus, the Commission requested the Court to maintain the
provisional measures and to request the State to perform of the following actions,
among others: i) effectively implement the measures at state level, with the
assumption on the part of the federal government of direct responsibility in that
process; ii) increase the number of guards at the Penitentiary; iii) train all the custody
personnel; iv) improve the conditions in which the guards must fulfill their tasks; v)
exchange surveillance patterns and control mechanisms; vi) implement effective
searches; vii) prevent detainees from being subjected to mistreatment; viii) separate
inmates by categories, and ix) improve detention conditions. The Commission further
asked the Court to request the parties to provide information on the steps taken with
respect to the planning and implementation of these measures and the representatives
participation in said implementation.
41.
That for all the above, this Court considers that the situation of extreme gravity,
urgency and irreparable risk still persists at the Urso Branco Prison, reason for which it
is admissible to maintain the provisional measures in force, by virtue of which the
State has the obligation to protect the life and physical integrity of all the persons
deprived of liberty thereat, as well as the life and physical integrity of the other
persons within the premises.
THEREFORE:
THE INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS,
by virtue of the powers granted to it by Article 63(2) of the American Convention on
Human Rights and Articles 26 and 30 of its Rules of Procedure,