4.1. The 2018 schedule of visits of the NPM On 12 December 2017, referring to Article 20(a) of the OPCAT, I sent letters to the heads of the governmental organs concerned, requesting them to provide me with the data, as of 31 December 2017, of all places of detention as defined in Article 4 of the OPCAT.73 All the requested organs complied with my data request. According to the data provided to me, on 31 December 2017, in the nearly 4,000 places of detention under Hungarian jurisdiction with a total capacity of 146,339 detainees, there were 127,628 persons being detained.74 4.1. The 2018 schedule of visits of the NPM Pursuant to Article 20(e) of the OPCAT, the NPMs shall be granted the liberty to choose the places they want to visit. On 15 December 2017, based on the list of places of detention, I determined the 2018 schedule of visits of the NPM.75 When preparing the schedule of visits, in addition to selecting institutions of different types and geographical locations and with different supervising authorities, my colleagues also tried to take into account the age of detainees and the experiences gained during the visits of the previous years. Nearly half of the places included in the schedule of visits were selected upon the proposals of CCB members.76 In addition to institutions with a capacity of several hundred persons, the 2018 schedule of visits of the NPM also included the homes of foster parents raising and educating a small number of children. The locations of the follow-up visits are selected on the basis of the impressions of previous visits, keeping in mind two criteria. On the one hand, follow-up visits were conducted at places of detention where the visiting delegations had detected ill-treatment or the threat thereof, affecting a large number of detainees.77 On the other hand, follow-up visits were paid also to institutions that, due to refurbishment works, had been operating on temporary premises at the time of the first inspection. In these cases, the follow-up visits’ objective was to inspect to what extent my recommendations made as regards the temporary premises and the 73 74 75 76 77 The letters requesting data provision are registered under file number AJB-6415/2017 in my Office. The data provided to my Office are registered under file number AJB-293/2018 in my Office. SPT: Guidelines on national preventive mechanisms (Clause 33 of CAT/OP/12/5). SPT Visit to Hungary 21–30 March 2017: Conclusions and Recommendations for the National Preventive Mechanism (Clause 31 of CAT/OP/HUN/R.2). See my report AJB-496/2018 on the follow-up visit to the Central Holding Facility of the MPHB. 39