prevent and counter VERLT in prisons, nor is it a guide on general monitoring methodology. Instead, it examines the human rights risks of VERLT-related measures in prisons and provides guidance to detention monitors with direct relevance to the specific context of terrorism and VERLT. In focusing on terrorism and VERLT, this guide offers a lens through which to analyse and understand particular prison-based security strategies. It will help monitors analyse laws, regulations and practices aimed at preventing and countering terrorism and VERLT, as well as their impact on human rights. This document is, therefore, primarily intended for independent detention monitors with a mandate to prevent, address or report on human rights violations across the OSCE area, including national preventive mechanisms (NPMs), ombudspersons offices, national human rights institutions (NHRIs), internal inspection mechanisms and civil society organizations (CSOs). It will also be of use to detention monitors operating outside the OSCE region. Given the numerous guidance documents on detention monitoring already available,10 practical advice in this guide will focus on those aspects of the detention monitoring methodology that are specific to monitoring work on VERLT-related issues. This guide also seeks to help raise awareness among national authorities and the public on the work carried out by detention monitors, thus contributing to strengthened cooperation with monitoring bodies. Policymakers and prison authorities may also find valuable guidance in this document. Scope This guide covers the conditions of detention and treatment of men, women and children held in detention facilities, including pre-trial detainees. It does not address detention in police custody specifically, although the guidance provided could be drawn on for detention monitoring in such facilities as well. The guidance provided focuses on individuals suspected of or convicted for terrorism-related offences, as well as on those suspected of or convicted for other offences who are wrongly or rightly perceived to be affiliated with terrorist or violent extremist groups, or who are considered by prison authorities to be “at risk” of or “vulnerable” to VERLT. Given the various mandates of detention monitors, this document explores a broad spectrum of human rights, including but not limited to the protection from torture and other ill-treatment. Ombudsperson offices, NHRIs and, to some extent, CSOs may cover a broader range of human rights concerns, including reactive work or the investigation of individual cases. NPMs, established under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) 11 have an explicit mandate to prevent torture or other ill-treatment and, thus, adopt a preventive forward-looking approach, identifying systemic deficiencies or practices, 10 11 10 For a detailed presentation of detention monitoring methodology, see for example: Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT), Monitoring Places of Detention: A Practical Guide, (Geneva: APT, 2004); for a list of examples of existing monitoring tools see: ODIHR & Prison Reform International (PRI), Guidance Document on the Nelson Mandela Rules, (Warsaw: ODIHR/PRI, 2018), Chapter 7, Box 7.1; regarding the independent monitoring of places of detention during the COVID-19 pandemic, see: ODIHR & APT, Guidance Monitoring Places of Detention through the COVID-19 Pandemic, (Warsaw: ODIHR/APT, 2020). UN, “Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment” (OPCAT), 18 December 2002, Articles 1, 3, 4, and 17-23.