it submit a response to the petition within a period of two months from the date of that transmission. 7. In addition to its various communications submitted in the context of precautionary measures, the State submitted its response to the petition through a communication dated June 21, 2005 and received on August 19, 2005. The Argentine State declined at that time to express its views regarding potential objections relating to admissibility and/or the merits, without prejudice to which it offered to initiate a dialogue with the petitioners to explore a friendly settlement. 8. The fourth section of this report details the proceeding before the Commission on the request for precautionary measures as well as the processing of provisional measures sought from the Inter-American Court with respect to this case. III. POSITIONS OF THE PARTIES A. The petitioners 9. The petitioners maintain that the State is responsible for violations of their rights to life, health and personal integrity in that approximately 2400 of them are being held in a prison with capacity for 600 inmates, so that 4 or 5 inmates are in cells measuring 3 x 2 square meters. They also allege that they lack baths, showers, enough food and adequate medical care. 10. The petitioners add that up to four persons are held in cells that are no bigger than two meters square with only one bed. There is no natural light or outside air entering the facility. They report that in many cases they are locked up for up to twenty hours and allowed outside their cells for alternating four-hour periods. They assert that they must take care of their physical needs in a nylon bag under embarrassing conditions inside the cell and in front of their cellmates. They also allege that they lack water to bathe and must use a hose and that many of them have scabies and other diseases due to the lack of hygiene. 11. The petitioners indicate that both accused and convicted inmates are continuously at risk of suffering serious attacks on their physical integrity and life, a risk that has taken the form of repeated acts of violence resulting in a series of injuries and deaths. More specifically, it is alleged that at least 11 inmates died and an indefinite number of inmates were injured during the course of 2004, with no clarification as to the circumstances surrounding these events. 12. The petitioners allege that the detention conditions at this penitentiary systematically fail to fulfill the functions and purposes of punishment involving the loss of freedom because they do not satisfy the goal of offering them treatment directed to their social rehabilitation or the need for measures to ensure security within the prison. 13. The petitioners report that most inmates have no access to any type of work or tasks oriented toward resocialization, nor can they attend school or religious services, and that there is no separation between convicts and the accused. 14. The petitioners maintain that the facility’s management constantly allows a so-called “special corps” from the Mendoza Police to enter the prison; this group consists of hooded individuals accompanied by dogs trained to menace and injure the inmates. 15. The petitioners report that they have made constant complaints to the courts through habeas corpus actions for unjustified aggravation of the conditions of their detention but the obligations that the courts impose on the provincial government are not complied with. 16. The petition indicates that both the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and Amnesty International have investigated the situation and have indicated their profound concern over its gravity, submitting recommendations to the government. 2