CAT/OP/ECU/2 The Subcommittee also considers it important to add a provision in line with paragraph 27 of the Guidelines, according to which “The State should not order, apply, permit or tolerate any sanction, reprisal or other disability to be suffered by any person or organisation for having communicated with the national preventive mechanism or for having provided the national preventive mechanism with any information, irrespective of its accuracy, and no such person or organisation should be prejudiced in any way. ” 17. The first plenary debate of the bill in the National Assembly took place in October 2014 based on the text contained in the report of the Committee dated 24 September 2014. In the course of the debate, some legislators expressed the view that the establishment of the national preventive mechanism would amount to misappropriation of the designated powers of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, on the one hand, and sentence administration judges, on the other. It was pointed out that article 669 of the Comprehensive Criminal Code provides that those judges shall inspect centres of deprivation of liberty at least once per month i n order to ensure that sentences are being served under proper conditions and that the rights of prisoners are being respected. The article also provides that judges undertaking these inspections shall arrange for appropriate measures to be taken to preven t or correct any irregularities that they may find. 18. In response to these concerns, the Subcommittee sent another letter to Ms. Aguirre Hidalgo on 7 November 2014, copied to the national preventive mechanism, in which it requested that she intervene and remind the legislators of the obligations assumed by Ecuador with its ratification of the Optional Protocol and of the provisions concerning the national preventive mechanism set forth in part IV of the Protocol. In particular, the Subcommittee pointed out that, pursuant to article 19 of the Protocol, such mechanisms are to be granted the following powers, among others: (a) To regularly examine the treatment of the persons deprived of their liberty in places of detention as defined in article 4, with a vie w to strengthening, if necessary, their protection against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; and (b) To make recommendations to the relevant authorities with the aim of improving the treatment and the conditions of the persons deprived of their liberty. With reference to these provisions, the Subcommittee pointed out that the jurisdiction of the national preventive mechanism extends to all places of deprivation of liberty, not only prisons; that its preventive functions apply to all persons deprived of their liberty, not only those serving a sentence; and that this work does not focus on individual cases or the legal situation of persons deprived of their liberty, but rather on general conditions of detention. 19. The Subcommittee also emphasized, in particular, that the mandate of the national preventive mechanism as set forth in the Optional Protocol is broader than the mandate of sentence administration judges as provided for in the Comprehensive Criminal Code and that any possible overlap between functions of the national preventive mechanism and existing, fully operational institutions in Ecuador should be addressed through dialogue and cooperation with a view to affording the most effective protection for persons deprived of their liberty. 20. To this end, the Subcommittee requests the national preventive mechanism to keep it informed of any new developments in the debate on the bill so it may continue to support the national preventive mechanism in accordance with the Optional Protocol. 21. The Subcommittee welcomes the role of the Office of the Ombudsman in the review of existing rules and regulations. In the course of this process, the national preventive mechanism, in its capacity as guarantor of the Optional Protoc ol at the national level and as a body that is operationally independent from the Office of the GE.15-11962 7/20