fundamental and human rights �.� national preventive mechanism against torture – The Mental Health Congress seminar, with topics such as “Psychosis patients in prison” – Seminar on the oversight of legality in the criminal sanctions services. The topics included “How is the principle of legality fulfilled in the criminal sanctions service and especially in the implementation of imprisonment?” The presentations included recent decisions and policy guidelines issued by the overseers of legality, along with experiences from the field. Deputy-Ombudsman Pölönen gave a talk at the seminar Two Office representatives also participated in an international training event held in Copenhagen on 3 and 4 January (”IOI Workshop for NPMs”). The topic was ”Strengthening the follow-up to NPM recommendations” and the event was organised by the Danish Parliamentary Ombudsman, the IOI (International Ombudsman Institute) and the APT (Association for the Prevention of Torture). The NPM organised an internal workshop whose content was “Restraint measures and involuntary treatment in mental health care settings�� in May 2018. The workshop was conducted by Professor Georg Hoyer, Doctor of Philosophy and Emeritus Professor of Social Medicine at the University of Tromsoe. Since 2010, Professor Hoyer is representing Norway at the CPT. He is Chairman of the Norwegian Research Network on the use of coercion in psychiatry. In addition to the Office’s representatives, external experts participated in Professor Hoyer’s workshop. 3.5.6 NORDIC AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION The Nordic NPMs meet regularly twice a year. The Danish NPM organised a cooperation meeting in Copenhagen in January 2018. The theme of the meeting was solitary confinement in prisons and remand prisons, the various types of isolation and how they are addressed during visits. The ”de facto” isolation of prisoners, i.e. the fact that, in practice, prisoners and remand prisoners are also isolated in situations that have no basis in law, was the topic of much discussion at the meeting. The meeting also included a visit to a prison in which the majority of inmates were remand prisoners. In August 2018, the Swedish NPM hosted a cooperation meeting in Lund. The subject of the meeting was the treatment of intoxicated persons and addicts by various authorities. The participants were given a tour of a treatment and rehabilitation unit for people with addictions. In November 2018, representatives of the Swedish Parliamentary Ombudsman visited the Office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman of Finland with the intent of studying the work methods and special tasks of the Ombudsman. During the visit, the guests were also introduced to the operations of the Finnish NPM. Representatives of the Parliamentary Ombudsman of Georgia visited the Office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman of Finland in November 2018. They were interested in the operations of the Finnish NPM and, in particular, inspection visits of asylum seeker reception centres and detention centres for foreigners. 3.5.7 VISITS Fulfilling the role of an NPM requires regular visits to sites. In some administrative branches, such as the police and criminal sanctions, such visits are also possible in practice. However, in the case of social services and health care, the number of units is so large that sites must be selected for visits on the basis of certain priorities. In 2018, follow-up visits were made in order to determine how the recommendations of the NPM had been implemented in practice. The implementation of recommendations is also monitored through notifications submitted to the Ombudsman by the visited units or other authorities, regarding any changes and improvements made in their operations. In 2018, the NPM conducted a total of 73 visits (out of 122 conducted by the Office as a whole). Most of the visits were made unannounced. Use of external experts has become an established 75