CAT/OP/12 IV. Further measures to be taken to reduce the negative impact of the pandemic and to prevent torture and ill-treatment A. States parties 15. In the light of the above-mentioned measures and concerns, and in addition to its previous recommendations, the Subcommittee urges all States to: (a) Include in the national vaccination programme, with priority, all persons deprived of liberty, all personnel, including medical, security, social, administrative and other personnel, of places of deprivation of liberty and staff of the national preventive mechanism; (b) Inform all persons deprived of liberty and their relatives, regularly and comprehensively, about the vaccination programme, including its benefits and possible side effects, and ensure that vaccination is voluntary and based on informed consent; (c) Continue the systematic screening for COVID-19 symptoms of all persons entering any detention facility, including new inmates, personnel and visitors, as long as the pandemic continues; (d) Improve the environment in areas of quarantine inside places of deprivation of liberty so that they do not correspond to places of solitary confinement, and compensate for the social isolation by using any means to improve social and family contact; (e) health care; Continue improving levels of hygiene, and the accessibility and quality of (f) Continue efforts to reduce the prison population by pursuing polices such as early release, parole and non-custodial measures; (g) Strengthen the efforts to consider the particular needs of women, juveniles, persons with disabilities, and LGBTIQ+ persons deprived of liberty, and since the pandemic exacerbates their vulnerability, assess the possibility of alternatives to detention; (h) Ensure that persons deprived of their liberty whose mental health is affected by COVID-19 measures, including those persons in quarantine, in medical isolation units, in psychiatric hospitals or in places of detention, receive adequate counselling and psychosocial support; (i) Take effective measures to ensure the protection of patients with COVID-19 inside care homes and psychiatric institutions, and provide them with basic emotional and practical support; (j) Continue providing national preventive mechanisms with all the support required to carry out visits to places of deprivation of liberty during the pandemic. B. National preventive mechanisms 16. In the light of the above-mentioned measures and concerns, and in addition to its previous recommendations, the Subcommittee urges the national preventive mechanisms to: (a) Resume in-person monitoring of all places of deprivation of liberty, taking into consideration all precautionary sanitary measures; (b) Advocate for access to vaccination programmes, on a voluntary basis, for all persons deprived of liberty, all personnel of places of deprivation of liberty, and the staff of national preventive mechanisms, and monitor the implementation of the vaccination programme; (c) Continue and intensify efforts to scrutinize existing or draft legislation aimed at the reduction of the prison population; (d) Scrutinize legislation, and especially emergency laws, with regard to maintaining or improving their capacity to visit places of deprivation of liberty; 6