On 6 December 2017, we made a review visit to Dom Nine Pokorn Grmovje At its 2015 visit, the NPM made 16 recommendations. During the visit, it was established that 10 of these recommendations have been accepted but not yet (fully) implemented, while six recommendations have already been implemented. This indicates that the institution took the recommendations seriously and made an effort to implement or at least start to implement most of them. During its review visit, the NPM made 6 new recommendations, which, in the light of its response to the preliminary report, the institution has predominantly already implemented, which is commendable. It was recommended that the institution update its website, as it was established that residents, and especially their family members, can receive the majority of explanations with regard to activities and planned events online. It was recommended that the residents be informed about the operation and importance of call buttons (distress calls). As the institution emphasised problems with admittance of residents to the nearby psychiatric hospital, we recommended a meeting with the hospital’s management in order to search for possible solutions. One recommendation is awaiting implementation; however this depends on objective factors (the start of construction of a new secure department). Dom Nine Pokorn Grmovje Refurbished calm down area Joint findings with recommendations a) Furnishing and decoration of room During our visits to special social care institutions in 2017, we again pointed out that appropriate furnishing and decoration of rooms (including) in secure departments were important for creating a pleasant living environment. We need to consider that residents often spend the majority of their lives in such institutions, which means that the department is their home. It is therefore only right for staff to try and make the residents’ stay pleasant, including by appropriately decorating the common areas, and in accordance with the wishes and desires of the residents, also their rooms. During our visit in 2017, we therefore recommended to Hrastovec SCI: • We recommend that the institution specifically sees to the pleasant living environment of residents in departments V1 and V2. Even if the residents stay only a short amount of time in these rooms, it needs to be considered that when placed in a secure department, they are in distress and their freedom of movement has been restricted, so their living environment should therefore be made as pleasant as possible. In its response to the preliminary report, the institution stated that the NPM’s recommendation will be considered, and that a project is being prepared about it. A similar recommendation was made during the visit to Dom Nine Pokorn Grmovje: • As we noticed that the residents’ rooms still look rather impersonal, the NPM repeated its recommendation that the employees encourage residents to furnish the rooms with their personal items, craftwork, and photos created in the context of organised activities at the institution. 58 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