A/HRC/35/23/Add.1 97. The Office of the Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Life was established in 2013 to strengthen murder investigations. It is divided into seven sections that absorbed all preexisting special units involved in investigating deaths, including those that involve human rights, children, women, journalists and common crime. Many critics voiced concern that the reform would dilute the human rights focus in homicide cases.75 98. Within the police, and in the context of its cleansing, the much-discredited National Directorate of Criminal Investigation was replaced by the Directorate of Police Investigations, which is expected to have over 1,000 agents and modern criminal investigation technologies. 99. In the judicial system, a 2011 decree established the creation of courts of national jurisdiction for a series of high-impact crimes, including murder, kidnapping and drug trafficking. The aim of that measure was to prevent local judges — who are more prone to intimidation and infiltration by criminal groups — from working on such cases, thus protecting the judges and improving the effectiveness of judicial proceedings. E. Protection of human rights defenders, journalists, social communicators and justice operators 100. In April 2015, the National Congress adopted the Law on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, Journalists, Media Workers and Justice Operators to respond to the high levels of violence they endured. The Law established a national protection system aimed at ensuring multisectoral coordination for its enforcement. It provided for the creation of the advisory National Council for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and a General Directorate, which was given an executive role and mandate to process protection requests from victims, provisional and precautionary measures from the Inter-American System for the protection of human rights, as well as security measures adopted by national courts. It also established a technical committee to conduct risk analyses and adjudicate on protection requests submitted to the General Directorate. In addition, it granted powers to several State institutions to provide protection measures to rights-defenders at risk. In total, 10 million lempiras ($440,140) was allocated to the mechanism. 76 The National Council assesses particular cases of persons at risk. In 2016, it approved a protocol for the transfer of precautionary and provisional measures of the Inter-American System, comprising a series of operating manuals and a methodology for analysing risk. A regulation of the Law was approved in August 2016 by Executive Agreement No. 59-2016. 101. The adoption of the Law and the establishment of the protection mechanism are very much welcomed but must be accompanied by the necessary resources and political will needed for their effective implementation. VIII. Prisons 102. Very poor conditions, including overcrowding, inadequate nutrition and poor sanitation, are widespread in Honduran prisons, as was witnessed by the Rapporteur during his visit to the National Penitentiary and the detention centre of the Second Tactical Infantry Battalion, both in Tegucigalpa. Corruption among prison officials is reported to be rife. A main concern with respect to the right to life is the effective relinquishment to inmates of authority and discipline, which has led to abuses, extortion and intra-prison violence and killings. Under inmate control, prisons are run by “coordinators” who direct activities essential to the lives of most of the prison population without control or criteria decided by the prison administration. Inmates are placed in a position of subordination and vulnerability. Coordinators are known to have beaten, removed from cells and punished 75 76 18 See www.pen-international.org/newsitems/in-post-coup-honduras-violence-against-journalists-andimpunity-escalate-freedom-of-expression-and-cultural-rights-undermined/?print=print, and www.proceso.hn/component/k2/item/15922.html. See Situation of Human Rights in Honduras, pp. 146-147.