force on 1 September 2010 after being ratified by the Federal Länder. Its remit includes the vast majority of places of detention. These are 186 organisationally independent prisons, 1,430 facilities of the Länder Police and 326 psychiatric clinics, but also seven facilities for the detention of persons awaiting deportation and 27 closed child and youth welfare facilities. In accordance with the legal definitions, places of detention in this sense also include the roughly 11,000 homes for the elderly and long-term care homes (cf. Article 4 para. 2 OP-CAT).6 Klaus Lange-Lehngut (former Leitender Regierungsdirektor) was appointed honorary Director of the Federal Agency for a term of four years by the Federal Ministry of Justice in agreement with the Federal Ministries of the Interior and of Defence on 4 December 2008. His term of office was extended by four years by letter of the Federal Ministry of Justice dated 26 November 2012. The four honorary members of the Joint Commission were appointed at the 81st Conference of Ministers of Justice, held in Hamburg on 23 and 24 June 2010. Prof. Dr. Hansjörg Geiger, former State Secretary, was appointed to chair the Joint Commission on 24 September 2010. Dipl.-Psych. Elsava Schöner, Albrecht Rieß, Presiding Judge at Stuttgart Higher Regional Court, and Prof. Dr. Dieter Rössner, University Professor at the University of Marburg were appointed as additional members. Prof. Dr. Hansjörg Geiger and Prof. Dr. Dieter Rössner resigned as per 31 August 2012. By resolution of the 83rd Conference of Ministers of Justice held in June 2012, Rainer Dopp, former State Secretary, was appointed Chairman of the Joint Commission and Petra Heß, Commissioner for Foreigners of the Free State of Thuringia, was appointed as a member of the Joint Commission. Mr Rieß and Ms Schöner were confirmed in their office for another four years at the same time.7 2 The foundation created for the work 2.1 Institutional framework and legal nature In accordance with Article 18 OP-CAT, the States Parties are obliged to guarantee the functional independence of the national preventive mechanism, that is the National Agency, and to also provide it with sufficient funding to carry out its tasks. The members of the Federal Agency are not subject to any specialist or legal supervision, and are completely free of instructions in the performance of their office. They work on an honorary basis and may resign from office at any time. 6 7 Bundestag printed paper 16/8249, p. 27. A more detailed description of the history is contained in Annex 2. 13