MONITORING PLACES OF DETENTION : A PRACTICAL GUIDE 137 Visiting mechanisms should consider whether the special needs of disabled and aged detainees are being met by keeping them in the same place of detention as the able-bodied majority of the prison population. Mechanisms should not forget the protection of detainees during transport. Minors who are deprived of their liberty must be held in structures and in conditions that are adapted specifically to their needs. Reference points ■ Are minors effectively separated from adult prisoners at all times of the day? In places of detention where different categories of persons are detained: ■ Are women effectively separated from male prisoners 24 hours a day? ■ Are they under the responsibility of mainly female staff? ■ Are groups of detainees who could be qualified as vulnerable given separate accommodation where there are genuine grounds to fear for their security? Where there are communal detention premises: ■ Who assigns the accommodation and on what basis? ■ Can detainees ask to change their place of accommodation? ■ If so, on what basis? ■ How do staff prevent and deal with the risks of abuse, 2