BackEntrusted with the function as National Preventive Mechanism against Torture (NPM), the Spanish national Ombudsman Institution – the Public Defender – has conducted 231 inspection visits of places of deprivation of liberty during its first working year. The Office of the Public Defender has recently published a first NPM Report.
The Public Defender assumed the NPM tasks at the end of 2009. Since then and up to the present day, it has carried out close to 300 unannounced preventive visits, 231 of which are covered by the released 2010 report.
The Public Defender in its function of NPM conducts inspection visits in order to detect problems of structural as well as procedural nature which might abet practice of torture or maltreatment with impunity. The first report informs about the detected deficiencies which must be remedied by the responsible administrative bodies for the deprivation of liberty.
Among the conclusions reached by the institution after conducting these 231 visits, the following stand out:
- The Public Defender expresses concern in relation with extensive media presence during police arrests.
- The Public Defender demands general use of video surveillance in all detention centres.
- The Public Defender considers that the regulation of incommunicado detention ought to be revised.
More information can be found on the Public Defender's website.
Source: The Spanish National Public Defender, Press Department
