GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORK OF THE NATIONAL AGENCY priving people of their liberty are enforced. Now that the number of members of the National Agency has been increased, it will also be devoting more attention to the issue of care homes and nursing homes for the elderly. To gain insights into practical aspects of such visits, representatives of the National Agency accompanied the Austrian Ombudsman Board, which has been conducting such visits for many years, on visits to Austrian care homes and nursing homes for the elderly. In addition, some of the members of the National Agency dealt with the issue of respect for human rights in policing during a meeting with the Austrian Ministry of the Interior. A further meeting of German-speaking preventive mechanisms is planned for 2016 at the invitation of the Swiss National Commission on the Prevention of Torture. During their trip to Vienna members and staff of the National Agency took part in a seminar organised by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights on interviewing people in places of detention. 3 – STANDARDS The National Agency has a preventive remit. Its recommendations are not only supposed to be implemented in the facilities it visits but in all the relevant facilities across Germany. That is why the supervisory authorities are called to translate any recommendations made in regard to a specific facility to other comparable facilities within their area of responsibility. The National Agency has also standardised its recommendations concerning recurring complaints. In the period under review it focussed on police custody facilities and developed standards in regard to these facilities. These are set out in section III.4. warning by means of knocking on the door or giving some other prompt. This especially applies where a toilet is in full view of the person looking through the peephole. Detainees must be informed of this fact. 3.1.3 – Clothing worn in specially secured rooms When placed in a specially secured room containing no dangerous objects detainees should be given at least a pair of paper underpants and a paper shirt to wear.2 3.1.4 – Communal showers Those deprived of their liberty should be given the opportunity to shower alone if they wish to do so. Irrespective of this, at least one shower in each communal shower room should be partitioned off.3 3.1 – PROTECTION OF PRIVACY 3.1.1 – Video surveillance Privacy must be protected in all places where people are deprived of their liberty. Where video surveillance (CCTV monitoring) is in operation, this can be done, for instance, by pixelating images of the sanitary facilities. If need be, it may be conceivable, in carefully considered, substantiated and documented individual cases, to permit unrestricted monitoring of a detention room or cell where there is an acute danger of self-harm or suicide. The person concerned must at any rate be informed of the fact that optical surveillance is in operation. The surveillance must be apparent or at least perceptible to the person concerned; covert CCTV monitoring is not permissible.1 3.2 – PHYSICAL RESTRAINT The use of physical restraints should be ordered only as a measure of last resort and on the basis of clear and precisely defined conditions, and they should be applied only for the shortest possible period of time. Physical restraints should be applied in as careful a manner as possible, which is why the use of systems of belts or bandages is recommended. The use of metal devices should be avoided on principle due to the high risk of injury. Out of respect for a person’s sense of shame, it should be examined on a case-by-case basis whether the person concerned can change all or some of their clothing to ensure they are wearing something suitable or provided specifically for this purpose. Those under physical restraint should at least be given a pair of paper underpants and a paper shirt to wear. Along with being kept under continuous, direct ob- 3.1.2 – Peepholes Many prisons do not make use of available peepholes. The National Agency therefore raises the question of whether they could be done away with entirely. In those cases where doors are still fitted with peepholes, these should not be used without giving advance 2 3 1 National Agency, Annual Report 2013, p. 27 et seq. 14 See National Agency, Annual Report 2013, p. 83 See National Agency, Annual Report 2014, p. 42