MONITORING PLACES OF DETENTION : A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR NGOS 21 3.1. Visits to persons deprived of their liberty in their place of detention—the main tool for monitoring conditions of detention Conditions of detention are monitored essentially through visits to the places where persons are detained.4 These visits have a variety of functions: ■ preventive function: The simple fact that someone from the outside regularly enters a place of detention in itself contributes to the protection of those held there. It means that external observation is accepted, or at least tolerated, by the detaining authorities, which recognise the usefulness of this protection mechanism; ■ direct protection: In situ visits make it possible to react immediately to problems affecting the detainees which have not been dealt with by the officials in charge; ■ documentation: During the visits, the material conditions of detention can be examined and their adequacy assessed; the information collected provides a basis for forming a judgement and documenting it and for justifying any corrective measures proposed. The visits also provide an opportunity to document specific aspects of detention which could be dealt with in a thematic study; ■ support to detainees: Direct contact with persons deprived of their liberty is, in itself, a form of moral support. The visits can also serve to identify and to cover material needs not being met by the authorities, or to provide individual legal aid; ■ basis for dialogue with the detaining authorities: Visits make it possible to establish a direct dialogue with the authorities and officials in charge of the detention facility. This dialogue, in so far as it is founded on mutual respect, leads to the development of a 4 Information about the conditions of detention collected outside the places of detention can also be used as a basis for intervention in cases where these places are not accessible. Nonetheless, the validity and legitimacy of these interventions can be more easily contested than can those following in situ visits.