The APT carried out its fourth regional detention monitoring training in Brazil from 17 to 21 May 2009. The workshop took place in Rio Branco, Amazon region, and gathered 30 participants from 6 States of the region (Amapá, Acre, Amazonas, Pará, Rondonia and Roraima). The training was part of a 3 year joint cooperation between the APT and the Human Rights Secretary of the Presidency which aims at strengthening the capacity of local actors to conduct regular preventive detention monitoring.

On 10 November, the APT held a four-day workshop on Detention Monitoring in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. This workshop, the third of its kind in Brasil, forms part of a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the APT with the Brasilian Secretary for Human Rights. The 44 participants, mainly comprising prosecution offices, civil society and judges, represented 13 different states in Brasil. The workshop, aimed at strenghtening practical skills regarding detention monitoring, also constituted an opportunity to discuss the draft law on the creation of the National Preventive Mechanism in Brasil. Those attending had the opportunity to carry out a visit to four different types of places of detention: a pre-trial prison, a center for minors, a prison for women and a psychiatric hospital.

The APT recently travelled to north-eastern Brazil to train participants from civil society and state institutions on the methodology of monitoring and visiting places of detention. Visits to a prison, a centre for minors and a psychiatric hospital were included as part of the training. This regional workshop was the second of a series, taking place from 2006 to 2009.