-43 “To investigate the root causes of isolation and search for alternative solutions NPMs can adopt a systemic approach” 4.THE ROLE OF NPMS – PREVENTIVE MONITORING OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT 4.1. The NPM as a catalyst for change Solitary confinement requires the NPM to monitor and try to address the already mentioned critical issues. What means does the NPM have at its disposal to meet these challenges? To some extent, monitoring visits are a key tool. But monitoring visits alone are not enough.132 133 More generally, NPMs should strive to go beyond monitoring prison life against national and international standards, but rather seize the opportunities that their mandate gives them to become a catalyst for change, both regarding norms and practices.To succeed in this endeavour NPMs could consider adopting a systemic approach134 to effectively push for a reduction in the use of isolation and a strengthening of rights and guarantees connected to it. In practice, applying such an approach also means investigating the root causes of isolation and searching for alternative solutions. In order to have an overall understanding, it is necessary to ask what solitary confinement is used for. So NPMs could start by investigating the following points: 132. Between 2014 and 2018, the Norwegian Ombudsman made 20 visits to Norway's high security prisons, where many people are held under a solitary confinement regime. The NPM then collected in a report the findings of his observation, together with general considerations on the solitary confinement and specific recommendations addressed to different components of the Norwegian public administration. Sivilombudsmannen, Norwegian Parliamentary Ombudsman, Special report to the storting on solitary confinement and lack of human contact in Norwegian prisons, 2019, available here: https://www.sivilombudsmannen.no/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/SOM_S%C3%A6rskilt-melding_ENG_WEB.pdf 133. The Danish association DIGNITY, whose members carry out visits with the NPM as medical experts, has dealt with the topic of solitary confinement, which can be freely consulted online: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=EyK5cNRahHc 134. See “A systemic approach to human rights practice”, Moritz Birk and Walter Suntinger, in Neuer Wissenschaftlicher, Verlag 2019 Monitoring Solitary Confinement in Prison