4 VISITS TO PLACES OF DEPRIVATION OF LIBERTY 4.1 Visits to retirement homes In 2017, the NPM made regular visits to nine retirement homes or their units, i.e. to Gornja Radgona Retirement Home, the Kidričevo Unit of Ptuj Retirement Home, Ljutomer Retirement Home and its residential unit in Stročja vas, Dom Sv. Martina Retirement Home in Srednja vas v Bohinju, the Idrija Unit of the Idrija Retirement Home, Horjul Retirement Home, Fužine Retirement Home, Dr Jože Potrč Retirement Home in Poljčane, and Dr Janko Benedik Retirement Home in Radovljica. The NPM also made review visits to six retirement homes, i.e. Dom Sv. Lenarta in Lenart v Slovenskih Goricah, Dom Viharnik Kranjska Gora, Lipa Retirement Home in Štore, Ptuj Retirement Home – the Muretinci and Juršinci Units, and Radenci Retirement Home. Reports on the visits to Idrija and Horjul Retirement Homes have already been sent to the Ministry of Labour, Family Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities; however, we are still awaiting its answer. Fužine Retirement Home provided its answers to our preliminary report, while we are still waiting for the answers from Dr Jože Potrč Retirement Home in Poljčane, Dr Janko Benedik Retirement Home in Radovljica, Ptuj Retirement Home – the Muretinci and Juršinci Units, and Radenci Retirement Home. During its visits, the NPM made 170 new recommendations. These also include recommendations that the NPM repeated at its review visit, as they had not yet been implemented1. The responses to our preliminary reports on the visits allowed us to establish that a large number of recommendations have been accepted, and almost one half have already been implemented. Total number of all (new or repeated) recommendations Accepted Rejected Implemented No data No response yet 170 40 5 76 0 49 General points about the visits On 22 February 2017, we made a review visit to Dom Sv. Lenarta in Lenart v Slovenskih goricah. It was established that of the 13 recommendations which were made during the 2015 visit, five have been accepted and seven already implemented. Dom Sv. Lenarta considered the majority of the recommendations made by the NPM in 2015, and has (at least partially) implemented them. During this visit, two new recommendations were made, which the retirement home has already accepted but not (yet) implemented. The need to immediately replace the residents’ dirty clothes with clean ones was explicitly pointed out. The general impression after the visit was positive and we found the living situation to be good, which was also confirmed by the residents during our talks. 1  Individual recommendations which were made during the visits to the above social care institutions in 2017 are provided below as an example. The others are or will be available on the Ombudsman’s website after receiving the response of the visited institutions or the competent ministries: http://www.varuh-rs.si/o-instituciji/podrocja-dela-varuha/varuh-kot-drzavni-preventivni-mehanizem/. 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 37