On January 17, 2014, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued its Report on the Use of Pretrial Detention in the Americas.  According to the press release, the Report states that “excessive use of pretrial detention[] runs counter to the very essence of democratic rule of law, which prohibits its use as a sort of anticipated punishment or swift justice without trial.”  The press release also notes that the Report urges for “extreme precautions” to be put in place whenever pretrial detention is applied “in order to respect due process rights.”  The Spanish language report is now available; the English language version is forthcoming.