the Rules. With regard to our observations, the Ministry of Justice said that the amendment to the Rules also supplements the proposed amendment of Article 212 of the ZKP (proposed by the ZKP-N), which explicitly establishes that the overcrowding of an institution is a reason for transferring a remand prisoner. A special mechanism for transferring prisoners and remand prisoners in the event of reaching full operational capacity of the institution has been set up and is being implemented. Remand prisoners have already successfully enforced their right to compensation due to inappropriate spatial conditions on remand. The Ministry further stated that our observations on the additional legislative regulation of an effective legal remedy would be studied from the viewpoint of eventual future legislative amendments. The Ministry of Justice prepared the proposed amendment to the Enforcement of Penal Sentences Act (ZIKS-1) in 2017, for which it affirms that it improves the legal framework and ensures a more appropriate legal basis for the enforcement of penal sanctions. The Ombudsman’s office provided its observations during the drafting of the proposal. The amendment was prepared on the basis of the findings during the monitoring and assessment of the implications of the valid legislation in practice. An appropriate legal basis had to be ensured for the correct and consistent regulation of powers of judicial police officers, which are now predominantly governed only at a regulatory level. According to the Ministry of Justice, the amendments and annexations were also required to harmonise the Act with legislation on minor offences, which introduces a substitute prison sentence, and with the new probation Act. The competent probation unit will assume individual tasks of the court, the police, and social work centres relating to home detention, community service, and suspended sentences. Individual tasks will be assumed by the probation administration. It is especially important for the amendment to be harmonised with European legislation on the rights, support, and protection of victims of crime. This amendment also governs the procedure for the expulsion of aliens. The amendment foresees the implementation of some of our past observations, such as ensuring the safety of the victim by providing notification of temporary release, escape or final release of the offender, and considers other observations, such as the regulation of special accommodation for convicted prisoners when reasons exist for a special, stricter regime of sentence enforcement. In 2017, the Prison Administration of the Republic of Slovenia (UIKS) prepared the Strategy of the Prison Administration of the Republic of Slovenia (2017–2020). We welcomed the adoption of this strategy as we believe it is a useful document for the work of the prison system and the implementation of its mission, in addition to the definition of the purpose of punishment in the KZ-1E amendment. We also encouraged the announced preparation of the action plan which will define in detail the time schedule for individual measures, the required resources, the monitoring of the planned measures, and the implementation of the objectives. We hope that our recommendations, which we provide when reviewing the suggestions of prisoners, and the recommendations provided in the role of the National Preventive Mechanism will be of assistance. The healthcare and social healthcare system in the area of mental health, the implementers of this activity, the rights of people being treated in departments of a psychiatric hospital under special supervision, treatment in secure departments of social care institutions, and in a supervised hearing are stipulated by the Mental Health Act (ZDZdr). The Ombudsman has repeatedly recommended comprehensive professional monitoring and analysis of the implementation of the ZDZdr, and using these findings to prepare proposals for system changes which will eliminate the established deficiencies, simplify existing legislative procedures, and ensure a high level of safeguarding of the fundamental rights of people being treated in departments of a psychiatric hospital under special supervision and in secure departments of social care institutions. When reviewing initiatives concerning people in secure departments of social care institutions, and when conducting visits in the role of the NPM in these institutions, several problems have been noted in the implementation of the ZDZdr. These problems include the lack of regulations of the admission procedure in secure departments of social care institutions when dealing with admission without consent. For quite some time, we have also been pointing out the need for updating the professional guidelines for the use of special precautionary measures (SPM). We welcomed the communication by the Ministry of Health in October 2016 that the Extended Expert Council for Psychiatry (EEC) had appointed a team of experts for preparing and updating the Recommendations and Guidelines for the use of SPM in Psychiatry, and its explanation that the appointed team was planned to present these recommendations at the National Psychiatric Congress in November 2016, as these were matters of national importance. In mid-2017, the EEC informed us that the team was concluding its work, and that once the team had confirmed the guidelines, they will be adopted by the EEC for psychiatry and presented to the Slovenian Psychiatric Association. We were also assured that we would receive the guidelines once these were confirmed by the EEC; however, we had not received them by the beginning of 2018. Information provided 12 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