FOREWORD The National Agency for the Prevention of Torture is the body responsible in Germany for ensuring humane detention conditions and treatment of prisoners. The Agency hereby presents an annual report of its activities to the Federal Government, the German Bundestag, the Länder governments and the Länder parliaments. The Report covers the period from 1 January to 31 December 2018. also encountered a particular difficulty in its dayto-day work in the year under review. It has become clear that the new budget (having been adjusted in 2015 on account of an increase in personnel) will in the foreseeable future no longer be sufficient for the National Agency to fulfil its mandate. A solution must be found that will enable the National Agency to fulfil its mandate in line with the Federal Republic of Germany’s obligations under international law. This document provides a summary of the National Agency's activities in the period under review, as well as background information on the Agency itself, followed by a section on its standards. These concern the main aspects of humane detention conditions and treatment of persons detained in the facilities visited. The standards are derived in particular from recurring recommendations made by the Agency, and are continually developed and adapted. They can also be found on the National Agency's website. Furthermore, the National Agency continues to operate without an adequate legal basis for publishing individual names in its reports on visits to privately owned facilities. As a temporary measure, the National Agency will publish these reports in anonymised form. However, the public often fails to understand the reasons for this. The National Agency already highlighted this issue in its 2017 Annual Report. The Agency believes it is necessary to create an adequate legal basis to enable it to publish the names of all facilities visited as well as all visit reports and opinions, in order to fulfil its preventive duty as provided for in the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT). After this follows a report on the National Agency's visits. In 2018, the Agency focussed its activity on the area of residential care and nursing homes. As part of this focus, the National Agency not only conducted visits to relevant facilities, it also contacted important stakeholders in the field. Cooperating with the ministries responsible for this topic was at times problematic as there was not always a willingness to assist the National Agency in fulfilling its legally mandated task. Finally, in December 2018 the mandates of members Prof. Dr Dirk Lorenzen and Senior Chief Superintendent Hartmut Seltmann (retd) came to an end. The National Agency would like to thank them for the positive contribution they made. Their expertise was a valuable asset for the Agency’s work. In addition to the many challenges faced in protecting the human rights and human dignity of persons deprived of their liberty, the Agency Rainer Dopp State Secretary (retd) Chair of the Joint Commission Klaus Lange-Lehngut Leitender Regierungsdirektor (retd) Director of the Federal Agency 7