12
conditions inside the jails, including an increase in the frequency of the inspections of the
detained individuals. In turn, the concern over the correct and regular carrying out of
inspections and their effectiveness in the prevention of violence and adequate and effective
control of the interior of the blocks on the part of the penitentiary guards is manifest, in
addition to the lack of information on the results of these inspections.
4.
Incidents of prison violence and suicide
28. In response to the suicides that have taken place in the prisons, the State indicated
that it has increased care and assistance for the inmates in all the penitentiary complexes
in the areas of psychological and social services, providing intensive care for the inmates at
risk of committing suicide. Likewise, in the San Felipe complex it has created the
Psychosocial Division, a treatment program that has made progress in the communal living
of inmates, preventing disciplinary problems inside the complex. The State added that
incidents of violence that put at risk the life or physical integrity of the inmates housed in
the penitentiaries - like the ones that took place near the middle of 2004 - have not been
repeated; and that in 2010 no deaths due to fights or violent incidents have taken place,
while with regard to suicides, there were two cases that took place in the months of March
and May of 2010, respectively. The State also reported that the deaths and suicides the
took place in previous years were attended to immediately by personnel of the general
security inspectorate and by officials with the public prosecutor's offices in charge of the
judicial investigations, with all cases being investigated. The State also reported that in
2009, there were four violent deaths in the Boulogne Sur Mer and San Felipe prisons, as
well as four incidents of suicide.
29. For their part, the representatives submitted specific information on grave incidents
in Mendoza prisons and observed that according to news items from the year 2009, at least
15 inmates died violently in different detention places in the province, of which nine were
reported as suicides and six as homicides, adding to those the six suicides and five
homicides that took place during the year 2008. This brings the total to 26 deaths in the
penitentiary complexes (15 suicide 11 homicides) during those years. They also made
reference to two alleged suicides reported during the first months of 2010, attributing them
to “the terrible and deplorable conditions of detention of individuals deprived of liberty"
where poor guard and detention conditions persist. The representatives also indicated that,
in accordance with indications from the place’s chaplain, "it is alarming that an inmate
spends 20 out of 24 hours of the day locked up and alone in a cell, without any activity to
do," which “tempts them to suicide, undoubtedly." Likewise, the representatives reported
on the recent incidents of violence in 2010 between the months of August and November,
when at least 11 inmates were injured due to fights with knives and at least one was
injured with a firearm by penitentiary guard officials during an inspection. The
representatives highlighted that in addition, in accordance with the Center for the Study of
Crime Policies and Human Rights in Buenos Aires, the province of Mendoza is in second
place according to the metric of "number of deaths per location" in penitentiary centers in
Argentina, with 15.
30. In this sense, the Commission indicated that the urgency and gravity of the
provisional measures persist, as the urgency is demonstrated “in kind by the continuation
of the situation of violence and insecurity that has been partially but not completely
overcome." In addition, it indicated that there has been an increase in the number of cases
of homicides and suicides since 2008, many of which have not been solved. Following its