SECTION 1. One of the principal functions of the Department is to conduct scheduled and ad hoc visits to custodial settings for prevention of ill-treatment. Scheduled visits occur pursuant to the Department’s approved annual work plans, while ad hoc visits are mostly related to the need to verify information about systemic violations of human rights in the operation of a certain institution and, specifically, allegations about application of torture and cruel treatment. In 2013 the organizational structure of the Department was changed (Drawing 2). In particular, the Section of monitoring of detective, inquest and investigative units was reformed into the Section of special proceedings and re-subordinated directly to the Ombudsman, while the Department acquired a new subdivision – the Section of expert support in medical matters, staffed with professionals with medical degrees and considerable practical experience. Thus, at present the Department consists of two administrations and six sections, with a total of 33 personnel. Each unit performs autonomously, according to its own work plan, monitors specific ministries or agencies and, accordingly, monitors a clearly defined circle of custodial settings. The only exception is the medical section that provides expertise on medical matters to all other sections, both during monitoring visits and in the course of analysis and consolidation of the collected information. Such arrangements for the Department’s performance enable substantial increase of the general efficiency of custodial settings monitoring: firstly, such monitoring is conducted simultaneously by five different units, of which each, secondly, is 9 composed of experts thoroughly aware of the particularities of operation of this or that custodial setting. Indeed, it is hard to compare the specifics of functioning of a remand prison with that of an orphanage facility, or a neuropsychiatric residence with a temporary holding area for foreigners and stateless individuals. In view of the diversity of custodial settings and major differences between them the organizational structure of the NPM Department was designed according to the principle of specialization (Drawing 2). Regional representatives Ombudsman of the In 2013 the Ombudsman had 10 regional representatives, of which 3 operated as full-time staffers of the Ombudsman’s Secretariat and 7 represented the Ombudsman on voluntary basis (as regional Ombudsman’s PR - coordinators). During the year of 2013 the regional representatives were not engaged in any autonomous visits of custodial settings in the framework of NPM implementation, although they visited custodial institutions of different profiles for verification of specific information regarding alleged violations of human rights and freedoms. At the same time and in view of the very high number of custodial settings and, accordingly, the need to increase the regularity and number of monitoring visits the Ombudsman made a decision to involve her regional representatives, as of 2014, into conducting independent visits to custodial settings, together with civic monitors. Such monitoring will be performed in compliance with the universal NPM methodology, and the results of each visit will be referred to the NPM Department for processing and further response.