use of special precautionary measures; ensuring appropriate day clothes for patients in psychiatric hospitals; placement and treatment of alien minors; ensuring appropriate (closed) rooms for the treatment of minors with mental health problems, and so on.). We do note, however, that we have contacted the Specialised State Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SSPO), Section for the Investigation and Prosecution of Official Persons Having Special Authority with regard to one case, where the instigator described maltreatment by police officers even though the Ministry of the Interior denied that police officers were even using coercive measures in the said case. We have asked the competent state prosecutor to investigate the actions of the police officers from the viewpoint of an eventual criminal offence. We are still awaiting the State Prosecutor’s response. After ten years of implementing the duties and powers of the NPM in Slovenia, we have also established that the time has come to introduce certain changes. Ten years ago, we began to implement the duties and powers of the NPM predominantly on the basis of experience gained in the context of the activities of the Ombudsman. The different nature of work of the NPM, which is preventive and does not deal with individual complaints, meant that we had to adapt the organisation of our work. One of these adaptations is the already presented independent NPM unit, which manages the implementation of regular visits to places of deprivation of liberty in Slovenia. The content of our visits, which are organised on the basis of written methodology (published in the NPM 2014 Report), has also changed. Unlike general visits, which focus on getting to know the institutions, thematic visits have become important, i.e. visits where special attention is paid to a specific subject or topic. These visits are presented below. One of these visits to a prison focused on how prisoners spend their time in prison, which useful activities are available, the possibilities for work and joining programmes, and on general activities aimed at facilitating their return to society upon release. We have also prepared a special report on the violation of human rights of people with mental disorders with regard to involuntary placement and involuntary treatment in secure departments of social care institutions and a report on the conditions for people with special needs in custody. We plan to mark the tenth anniversary of implementing the duties and powers of the NPM with an international NPM meeting in April 2018 in Ljubljana. This will be an opportunity to review the implemented activities and the potential measures for improving the effectiveness of the NPM. 18 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DUTIES AND POWERS OF THE NPM IN 2017 NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM UNDER THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT