Article 7 of the American Convention
in relation to Article 1(1) thereof
(Right to Personal Liberty)
Pleadings of the Commission
219. The Commission’s pleadings with regard to the violation of Article 7 of the American Convention in relation to Article 1(1) thereof, were as follows:
a) the State violated Article 7 of the American Convention, in relation to Article 1(1) thereof, to the detriment of the children and adolescents housed at the Center between August 14, 1996 and July 25, 2001, and of those subsequently transferred to adult prisons; and
b) the right to personal liberty was violated inasmuch as a pattern emerged that adversely affected all the juveniles interned in the Center and consisted of the following:
i. a generalized state of preventive detention in which 95% of the inmates were in preventive detention and only 5% had actually been convicted. The State thus violated the principles dictating that detention shall be used only in exceptional cases, for specified periods of time that are to be as short as possible, and as a measure of last resort. These are the principles governing the use of deprivation of liberty as a preventive measure and as punishment in the case of persons under the age of 18;
ii. the State’s failure to ensure the effectiveness of the writ of habeas corpus granted through a ruling of July 31, 1998, in response to a petition filed on behalf of the inmates asking the court to order that they be housed in proper facilities;
iii. the conditions under which they were detained, such as overcrowding, filth, lack of ventilation, lack of recreation, and poor diet;
iv. the lack of properly trained personnel in sufficient numbers to guarantee the alleged victims’ safety, as there was only one guard for every 20 inmates; and
v. the fires that happened.
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