41 However, despite the significant steps towards the prevention of torture and other forms of abuse, including the improvement in the treatment of the prisoners, the NPM points out that the internal control, prosecution offices and court instruments require much more improvement in terms of effective and efficient fight against torture. In this respect, it would be recommendable to fully harmonize the provisions of the Criminal Code with the definition of torture referred to in Article 1 of the UN Convention against torture In the course of 2016, the NPM visited a number of places where the persons deprived of liberty are placed, such as police stations, international reception centres for foreigners, detention units, prisons, psychiatric hospitals and psychiatric institutions in public hospitals, social welfare institutions used as homes, asylum centres and reception centres for migrants. In acting upon the NPM recommendations, addressed with the aim to protect and warrant the rights of apprehended and detained persons, as well as to prevent their mistreatment by the police, the visited police departments hand over to the detainees the appropriate written notifications about the rights of the detained persons and maintain due records of detentions. Although the Instructions on treatment of the detained and brought in persons has still not changed, the police officers of individual police departments ceased with the practice of obligatory presence during medical checkups of all the detained persons, but rather attend only at the request of a doctor, for security reasons. The files formed upon detention of persons no longer include the medical records of the persons while the information about the health condition of the detained person are available to the police officers only to the extent relevant for the treatment of that person upon his/her detention. A number of detention premises in police stations still do not comply with present standards in terms of material conditions and the recommendations of the NPM to improve the conditions in certain detention premises was predominantly not acted upon, stating unacceptable reasons – the lack of material and technical conditions. NPM has found that the Ministry of Interior failed to organize appropriate trainings for police officers in each police department in the Republic of Serbia about the treatment of mentally impaired persons. Taking into account the significance of having additional prevention and protection measures against abuse of persons deprived of their liberty, recording of information received from citizens (the interviews) and hearing of suspects, the Ministry of Interior was addressed a recommendation to, in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice, within their legal competences, ensure the funds and required technical equipment for audio and visual recording of hearing processes. However, this recommendation has still not been acted upon. The position of detainees remained almost unchanged compared to the previous period. There is still a public perception of having the detention measure easily pursued and often accompanied with the violating the principle of the presumption of innocence, that in certain cases the detention represents a punishment before judgement. Despite of the NPM’s recommendations to the institutions to ensure living room space for detainees and find a way to engage them in work, they continue to spend the most of the day locked in their dormitories, without any purposeful activities organized.