1.2 Control visit to the Aliens Centre 1.2 Control visit to the Aliens Centre On 23 January 2013, we paid a control visit to the Aliens Centre (hereinafter: AC) in Postojna together with a representative of the NGO under a contract, without any prior announcement. The purpose of the control visit was to examine the implementation of NPM recommendations from the last visit on 3 October 2012, according to the response report of the Ministry of the Interior of 27 November 2012. During the control visit, it was established that the number of foreigners accommodated in the AC has fundamentally increased from the last visit, and there were 32 foreigners (at the last visit there were only 12). Our findings from the control visit, regarding the given recommendations are presented below. 1. At the last visit, it was proposed by the NPM that the menu and its translation to a foreign language/ foreign languages henceforth be placed in such a way that it can be seen (found). As regards this recommendation, it was established that the recommendation had been taken into consideration only partially during the control visit, because the menu (for the period from 21 January 2013 to 27 January 2013) in the dining room was written only in Slovene. The Head of the Centre explained that the menu was not translated into English because of the absence of the coordinator that takes care of providing translations of menus; translations of menus are otherwise provided by the Translation Service of the Ministry of the Interior. According to that, the Head of the Centre assured that he will provide that at least another person will be competent for this field, in order to avoid similar cases like this one. The NPM expects that this assurance made by the Head of the AC will actually be implemented. The AC gave notice later on that, with regards to providing the translation of the menu into a foreign language, the recommendation by the NPM had been taken into consideration entirely and, irrespective of the absence of the expert worker, that it assured regular translation of the menus, as well as placement of the menus in a visible position in the dining room. Furthermore, the Centre keeps translations of menus and the entire written communication with a contractual party. 2. It was also proposed by the NPM that in the future employees should use their own initiative to spot potential damage to equipment and take care that this damage is regularly repaired. During the control visit it was established that the recommendation by the NPM had been taken into consideration by the AC entirely and that e.g. electrical cables under the washbasin were covered with plastic cover. The NPM also expects employees to actually spot smaller damage to equipment in the future by themselves and to take care that this damage will be regularly repaired. 3. It was proposed by the NPM that more attention should be given to monitoring that the cleaning of toilets is adequate. In connection to this recommendation, the Head of the Centre explained that after the visit from the NPM, the cleaning service has been substituted and the condition is supposed to be better. During the control visit we inspected cleanliness of the shower facility at the male ward and we noticed that there were some limescale marks on the walls and the doors of the metal cabins, which gives the appearance of impurities. The next day after the control visit had been performed, the Head of the Centre sent some pictures, after the cleaning service had once again cleaned the shower facility at the male ward. It is evident from these pictures that cleaning had been performed, because the remainder of the scale are no longer so distinct in the pictures. According to that, the NPM expects the management of the AC to regularly provide adequate cleanliness of shower facilities in the future. The AC explained furthermore that the cleaning of toilets of the Centre, that are used by foreigners, is provided by a contractual party, namely, by two cleaning ladies. Because of the problems that arose during cleaning by the new contractual party, the management of the Centre communicated several times with the Office of Logistics, which is competent to enforce contracts, and reached an agreement with the administrator of the contract that in addition to daily supervision of the medical service, he will also visit the centre once a week to additionally supervise cleaning work. 4. It was proposed by the NPM that a torn-apart mattress (cut up multiple times) should be removed from room number 7 of the section for more stringent police surveillance. During the examination of room 7 for more stringent police surveillance during the control visit, it was established that a torn-apart mattress (cut up multiple times) was removed and so the recommendation by the NPM from the last visit had been taken into consideration (realised) by the AC. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DUTIES AND POWERS OF THE NPM IN 2013 NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM UNDER THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT 59