2. National Preventive Mechanism activities 2.1. Visits to places of detention In 2015, the NPM did 50 visits to different places of detention(11), one of which with the participation of the Ombudsman himself. The teams of visitors were composed from two up to four persons. The visits, made without previous notice, were preceded by a planning to cover the largest possible geographical area, especially in the central and southern part of the country. It was also taken into account the diversity of places of detention visited, including, among others, prisons facilities, places of detention of police forces, temporary installation centres for foreigners and educational centres for young people. Graph I Geographic distribution of visits made in 2015 20 15 15 8 10 6 5 0 0 3 0 1 1 3 0 2 0 0 0 ja Br a Br ga C as agan te ça lo Br an C co oi m br a Év or a Fa ro G ua rd a Le iri a Li sb Po oa rta leg re R. Por A. to R. Aço A. r M es ad Sa eira nt ar ém Vi an Se a d túb o C al as te l Vi o la Re al Vi se u o Av eir 3 0 Be 0 3 0 5 The analysis of the graph above shows that Lisbon is the district with more visits (15 visits, equivalent to 30% of all visits made in 2015), predominance that is justified by the high concentration of places of detention. Eight visits were carried out in Faro, six in Coimbra and five in Leiria. With three visits each, NPM had gone to Beja, Évora, Guarda (11)  It is important to mention that, in the visit no. 28-2015, two places were visited, once the local previously defined to be visited uses the detention zone of the second one. 14 |