Ms Justina Pérez Platé
Justina holds a degree in International Studies from Torcuato Di Tella University (Argentina) and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Human Rights and Conflict Management at Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa (Italy). Her academic path reflects a deep commitment to human rights, international law, and conflict resolution, with her work centring on the protection of human dignity and the advancement of global peace and justice. As part of an Erasmus internship, Justina is conducting research at the Programme for Studies on Human Rights in Context at Ghent University (Belgium), focusing on the intersection of human rights, security policies, and conflict resolution in Latin America. In addition to her academic work, Justina has experience in political advisory. She held roles in project management and strategic planning at the Parliament of the City of Buenos Aires and contributed to the 2023 Argentine presidential campaign, where she managed data analysis and optimised campaign strategies.
Introduction
In the province of Buenos Aires (PBA), the second largest in Argentina with 307.571 Km² (Censo 2022), rising levels of overcrowding in prisons have led to a concerning trend that has persisted over the years: the prolonged detention of individuals in police stations.
The starting point to understand the urgency and importance of this issue is Resolution 31/2016 concerning Precautionary Measures 496-14 and 37-15 (IACHR, 2016). The most worrying aspect, which the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) highlighted in the resolution, is the misuse of the police station facilities that were originally designed for temporary stays. This situation flagrantly violates international human rights standards. In the precautionary measures, the IACHR ordered the Argentine government to implement immediate measures to ensure detention conditions that respect human dignity. Yet, the situation remains alarming, with little change since the resolution.
While this trend is not new, this post focuses on developments between 2019 and 2024 but takes as its starting point the resolution of the IACHR issued in 2016. It drew attention to six police stations located in the municipalities of Lomas de Zamora and La Matanza, both in the PBA. The resolution responded to concerns about overcrowding, lack of proper sanitation, insufficient access to food and medical care, inhumane detention conditions and the inability to exercise basic human rights. To broaden the scope of the analysis, the data presented in this post will cover all the police stations that are within the jurisdiction of the PBA.
This post consistently refers to the broad definition of “persons deprived of liberty” as described in Article 4 (2) of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment which encompasses any form of detention or imprisonment.
Analysis of Human Rights Violations
Multiple human rights violations in police stations in the PBA have occurred historically and continue to this day, despite the various attempts of different international organisations and mechanisms to overturn the tendency. These efforts include the IACHR´s actions in 2016, the Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on its mission to Argentina in 2017, the Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture in 2018, the IACHR’s Resolution 4/19 in 2019 (an extension of Resolution 31/2016), the Report of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture in 2022 and numerous reports by the National Committee for the Prevention of Torture and NGO´s like the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), specialized in the matter. Despite recommendations and warnings, the current conditions in police stations in the PBA reflect the same structural problems identified in 2019, with little improvement. In fact, as of August 2024, police stations located in the PBA count with 1237 declared quotas for detaining people. This refers to the amount of places available to detain people each police station declares to the PBA government based on space available. However, the actual number of detainees currently held in these facilities is 2561, representing 107% overcapacity (Comisión Provincial por la Memoria, 2024). This overcrowding in police stations is a consequence of space shortages in federal and provincial prisons and the relentless rise in incarceration rates (National Committee for the Prevention of Torture, 2024). This misuse of police stations as detention centres contradicts its own nature. Police stations are meant to function as places of custody, for people awaiting measures to be dictated by judicial bodies or during the first moments after the execution of an arrest warrant. They were created for short-term stays of less than 72 hours. But the reality is that today “some (people) even stay there for years and even serve their sentences” (National Committee for the Prevention of Torture [CNPT], 2024, p. 4). In these unprepared detention centres, needs are abundant and unending, and human rights violations are rampant. Extreme overcrowding conditions were found in La Matanza (PBA), in which cells with the capacity to hold 40 people were found with 253 detainees (IACHR, 2016). Also in Lomas de Zamora, police station No.8 in Villa Galicia, 18 people were detained in a cell measuring 4x4 metres and 3 metres in height, a cell designed to be for two people. This clearly violates international standards regarding minimum space per detainee. Furthermore, poor hygiene is widespread, with inadequate sanitary facilities, broken pipes, and exposed electrical wiring, which poses a life-threatening danger to detainees. Shortcomings such as humidity in the walls, lack of natural or artificial light, lack of ventilation, no spaces for recreation, no hot water and minimal cold water, the inexistence of medical consultations, insects and pests are also easily found in any police station. As well as hallways, offices and even bathrooms are used as sleeping areas due to lack of space. In addition to these conditions, there is widespread ignorance among detainees regarding their legal status.
All of these conditions represent a clear violation of numerous international norms, including the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Mandela Rules). These rules set clear standards for the dignified treatment of detainees, including the right to adequate detention conditions. Police stations in PBA fail to meet even these minimum standards, exposing detainees to inhumane conditions. Additionally, the American Convention on Human Rights is violated, particularly Article 5 (4), which mandates the separation of prosecuted and convicted persons, a distinction often ignored in police stations, where both groups are detained together. This represents a profound human rights violation, as it undermines the legal obligation to separate individuals based on their judicial status.
Another concerning aspect is the access to food. Detainees in police station facilities do not receive food or if they do, they count with poor nutritional quality. As food provision is not contemplated in most of the police stations in the PBA, detainees have to rely on the solidarity of other detainees who receive food through the visits of their family members (National Committee for the Prevention of Torture, 2024). This aspect is also highlighted in the Report of the Subcommittee on Torture based on its visit to Argentina in 2022, showing concern about the topic and recommending the Argentinian state to comply with Rule 22 of the Mandela Rules, which states that every prisoner shall receive food of nutritional value adequate for health and strength (Mandela Rules, 9). Access to detainees' rights is also problematic. At the moment of detention, most detainees have serious troubles accessing justice, such as the prohibition to contact defenders and courts, which results in complete ignorance about the ongoing judicial process. Some detainees don’t even know the reason for their arrest, in clear violation of Rule 119 of the Mandela Rules. Another related breach is the violation of the presumption of innocence which further undermines the right to a fair trial (American Convention on Human Rights, Article 8), as arrests in police stations are delayed for extended periods, even years, with the argument that prisons are overpopulated. This results in people detained for months, or years, without the possibility to stand in a fair trial.
Furthermore, the issue of vulnerability is highlighted in various reports. The Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in 2018 highlights the broad faculties the police of the PBA have to detain persons on the basis of the suspicion of committing a crime or just in order to verify their identity. This is based on discriminatory and subjective judgements. It disproportionately affects vulnerable populations, such as children living in the street, Indigenous community members, persons of the LGBTIQ+ community and persons with mental disorders. The case of Matías Iberra in a police station in the municipality of Merlo, PBA, highlights this problematic situation and also the lack of medical care in police detention facilities. According to the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS, 2022) Matías Iberra was detained on the 26 of June 2019 after a group of people accused him of stealing a kit of mate (a 'kit de mate' is a set that includes a mate gourd, bombilla (straw), yerba mate, and a thermos, traditionally used for preparing and consuming the mate beverage, popular in South America), which was never found in Iberra’s backpack. He was living in the street, so he had nothing else that belonged to him. Despite this, he was taken to the police station in Merlo and was detained for 4 days, without proof that he committed the theft. On the night of June 29th, he had a mental health crisis, shouted, self-injured and asked for his family. None of that mattered as he was taken to Hospital Eva Perón and taken back to the police station in Merlo with a certificate that showed good health, besides being severely beaten and hurt. Iberra was found dead the morning of 1st July, in his wet cell while outside there were extremely low temperatures due to the winter, and beaten. Iberra’s death highlights not only the violation of multiple human rights but also the severe shortcomings in how the judiciary and the public prosecutor’s office handle such cases. It also underscores the inadequate treatment of individuals with mental health issues, who are often neglected or not given the necessary consideration.
The handling of the pandemic and the excessive use of pretrial detention
The COVID-19 outbreak introduced unprecedented challenges in 2020. Argentina had 336 days of isolation and mandatory distancing between 2020 and 2021 decreed by former president Alberto Fernández (Infobae, 2024). Following recommendations of International Organisations of Human Rights, including the IACHR, and having declared a prison emergency in 2019, former president Fernández announced the early, temporary release or house arrest of some prisoners to mitigate overcrowding in prisons and the risk of infection. This decision was far from not having generated controversy. Many in Argentina were concerned about the criteria used to release prisoners, especially in cases like a convicted rapist, who was released despite living near his 13-year-old victim (BBC News Mundo, 2020). While the number of prisoners decreased and there were more house arrests and detentions, the number of persons detained in police station facilities increased. In 2019 47.180 persons were detained in prisons in the PBA, decreasing to 45.392 in 2020, showing a decrease of 3.79%. (Comisión Provincial por la Memoria, Datos Abiertos). Meanwhile, the number of detainees in police stations rose from 3,854 in 2019 to 4,756 in 2020, marking a 23.4% increase. And taking into account the reported quotas for detaining people, which was 1262, there was 278% overcapacity in police station facilities in 2020. In fact, the tendency to imprison in police stations was accelerated during 2020 due to policies taken based on the risk of infection in prisons (National Penitentiary Office, 2023).
Another trend specifically indicated in the Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in 2018 is the excessive use of pretrial detention, contrary to the exceptional measure character it has by nature, and signalled in Law No. 24390. Pretrial detention must be determined case by case after taking into consideration the risk of obstruction of the investigation or the risk of the suspect escaping. The Working group also highlighted that most of the time the limit of two years for pretrial detention is exceeded up to six years. Pretrial detention contributes to the overcrowding in police stations, as provincial and federal prisons cannot handle any more individuals. During the pandemic this became evident, as the policy was about releasing individuals from prison, while many remained in police stations with pretrial detention, showing its biggest peak since 2005. Even nowadays, as prisons are still overcrowded, police stations have become de facto warehouses for people who have not yet been tried.
Recommendations
Several recommendations were made to the Argentinian State to reverse the trend of overcrowding in police station facilities, to reduce the misuse of pretrial detention, and to enhance human rights provisions in the judicial process. Despite these efforts, little improvement has been made.
Regarding the area of health, it is necessary that the Argentinian State takes measures to guarantee that all detainees undergo a medical check-up upon arrival at the police station facility, to comply with rule 30 of the Mandela Rules, and also keep track of the medical files (Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, 2022). This would create a follow-up mechanism on existent or new health issues and would help to detect mental health issues and take measures to mitigate unfortunate consequences.
Police officers also must be trained in compliance with human rights standards to ensure they comply with their obligation to inform detainees upon arrival of the rights they have while in custody. Such as the right to be informed of the rights and reasons for the detention, the right to remain silent, communication with family and legal assistance. The fatal case of Matías Iberra demands the need for specific protocols that would explain step by step what to do in case persons with mental health disorders are detained. If not, police agents will still isolate and confine in cells detainees with mental health issues, resulting in suicides and self-injuries.
In accordance with the recommendation of the Subcommittee on Torture in 2022, is necessary to keep improving the nutritional quality of food and provide the detainees with potable drinking water. Furthermore, overall detention conditions must be improved to reach the minimum standards in accordance with rule 50 of the Mandela Rules. Last but not least, there must be alternative measures to detention. As mentioned, the abuse of pretrial detention contributes to the overcrowding of detention facilities and results in inhuman conditions and human rights violations. Today, in prisons in the PBA, 29276 persons are held in pretrial detention, representing 49,8% of the total prisoners in the PBA, a higher percentage over the ones that are condemned, which represents 48,5%, while other categories like dismissed and without pretrial detention sum up to 1,7% (Comisión Provincial por la Memoria, 2024). Policies that promote bail, house arrest, or electronic monitoring should be implemented as effective alternatives. In the absence of a clear strategy to reduce the number of people in pretrial detention, reversing the trend will be impossible.
Conclusion
It is imperative to address the humanitarian crisis in the PBA. To do so, the provincial and national governments must take immediate action to reduce prison overcrowding and to ensure police stations no longer serve as long-term detention centres. Yet, the international community must improve their follow-up mechanisms to ensure compliance and better results after issuing reports or precautionary measures. A human rights approach in detention centres urgently must be adopted.
At present, the future is far from encouraging. In April 2024 President Javier Milei announced his plan to build “mega” prisons, by selling prison lands located in urban areas, like the one in Villa Devoto located in the City of Buenos Aires. Milei mentioned that these new prisons would have a capacity ranging from 5,000 to 6,000 inmates, exceeding the capacity of the Villa Devoto prison by over three times (CNN, 2024). But how can a system that isolates individuals from society possibly prepare them to return to it? How can it be considered a solution to build more prisons and increase incarceration rates without tackling the deeper underlying issues? Is the answer really to build more prisons, or should the inhumane conditions in police stations force us to reconsider the very foundation of our approach to criminal justice?
One key takeaway from this post is that prolonged detention in inhumane conditions not only destroys the dignity of detainees and violates multiple human rights, but also severely compromises any possibility of social reintegration. And isn’t it the supposed ultimate goal of the penitentiary system?
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