Police detention centres resolved by the working group. The Ministry made table visits conditional on the availability of staff and space in the police detention centres although the working group agreed table visits as the preferred form. The NPM vehemently criticised the approach used by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and, based on the opportunity to receive table visits granted in some police detention centres, recommended ensuring the nationwide realisation of table visits in accordance with the working group standards as soon as possible. Subsequently, the Ministry questioned the standard for table visits defined by its own representatives as well as the NPM. The working group had not fully considered the serious practical consequences of this measure in detention. The Ministry literally communicated the following to the AOB: “Notwithstanding if the Ombudsman should continue to have reservations about the potential unequal treatment of detainees and therefore uphold their recommendation to make arrangements as soon as possible that ensure the standardised and full implementation of table visits nationwide, this can only be achieved if the occasional facilitation of table visits is generally forbidden in all police detention centres.” The NPM considered this form of communication and treatment of the jointly defined standards as very negative, as it gave the impression of an ultimatum and is contrary to the intention of the OPCAT to improve detention and working conditions. Furthermore, the security concerns voiced by the Federal Ministry of the Interior failed to invalidate the criticism of the NPM. In this context, the opinion of the Ministry was also critical for the NPM because the deprivation of liberty is never voluntary, and detainees are to be excluded from the principle of trust for their good conduct and compliance with the law even though they are supposed to display good conduct in detention. Attitude of the Ministry is critical Because of this difficult situation, representatives of the NPM held personal meetings with Federal Minister of the Interior. The result of these talks was the assurance of the implementation of table visits in accordance with the working group standards in Vienna police detention centres during the course of 2021. However, in the subsequent written documentation, the Federal Ministry of the Interior referred to the reservations about table visits on the part of the medical staff, the personnel and the works council. It was recommended to discuss the further approach in meetings with the NPM, which was still open at the time of editing this report. Recent arrangement to implement table visits As depicted in the NPM Report 2019, the visitor lists for 2017 to 2019 viewed on the monitoring visit to Innsbruck police detention centre in September 2019 did not contain any entries for visits on a Saturday or Sunday (see NPM Report 2019, p. 154). This gave grounds to doubt the notification from the Federal Ministry of the Interior that it is common practice to allow the detainees to receive visits at the weekend. In the course of the subsequent examination, Visits at weekends in Innsbruck police detention centre 140