MONITORING PLACES OF DETENTION : A PRACTICAL GUIDE 87 The visiting mechanism might also check and complete the information obtained during visits by consulting: ■ the higher authorities; ■ State services other than those responsible for the place of detention (e.g., Ministry of Health); ■ other actors such as lawyers or civil society organisations working in or with the place of detention; ■ reports of other visiting mechanisms; ■ the families of the persons deprived of their liberty and released detainees; ■ transferred detainees visited in other places of detention. 5.2 Writing monitoring reports on conditions of detention Reports are probably the most important of the tools that a visiting body has at its disposal for protecting detainees and improving their situation. The legal texts or agreements that provide the basis for visiting mechanisms therefore usually explicitly mention the right of the visiting body to make such reports and recommendations, and state the obligation of the detaining authority to consider them and enter into a dialogue. There can be different types of report, with different objectives, targeting different interlocutors. The visiting body should determine its own strategy regarding reporting and follow-up. A visiting body can decide to report on each visit or to present a global report based on a series of visits. It can also decide to present only one global annual report. 5.2.1 Writing visit reports The visiting mechanism should regularly inform the detaining authorities of the results of its assessment of the places of detention