Preventing Torture An Operational Guide for National Human Rights Institutions Watch Go to the Preventing Torture CD-Rom to watch more on NHRIs and their role to monitor places of detention. Click on ‘Feature materials’ and then select ‘Item 14 – NHRIs: Monitoring places of detention’. Key points: Chapter 8 • Monitoring places of detention through regular visits should respect basic principles, in particular the principle to “do no harm”. • Visits to places of detention should be well planned in terms of reviewing available information, dividing tasks between team members and making prior contacts. • Key steps involved in conducting a visit include: initial talk with the person in charge, tour of the premises, consultation of registers, private interviews with detainees, final talk with the person in charge. • Reporting on visits and preparing recommendations is crucial as a follow-up mechanism and for establishing an ongoing dialogue with the relevant authorities. Further reading In the CD-Rom Making Standards Work: An International Handbook on Good Prison Practice; Penal Reform International; 2001 Monitoring Places of Detention: A Practical Guide; Association for the Prevention of Torture; 2004 Detention Monitoring Briefing No. 1: Making Effective Recommendations; Association for the Prevention of Torture; 2008 Detention Monitoring Briefing No. 2: The Selection of Persons to Interview in the Context of Preventive Detention Monitoring; Association for the Prevention of Torture; 2009 Detention Monitoring Briefing No. 3: Using Interpreters in Detention Monitoring; Association for the Prevention of Torture; 2009 Visiting places of detention: What role for physicians and other health professionals?; Association for the Prevention of Torture; 2008 Training Manual on Human Rights Monitoring (see Chapter IX: Visits to Persons in Detention and Chapter XX: Reporting); Professional Training Series No. 7; OHCHR; 2001 92 | Chapter 8: Monitoring places of detention