Section four Appendices • The human rights implications of detention-related practices NPM-wide discussions have strengthened understanding of the human rights issues around use of force and restraint, deaths in custody, segregation and mental health. • Shining a light on de facto detention Monitoring bodies’ ability to understand and tackle de facto detention has been refreshed by analysis of existing practices and approaches. • Ensuring detainees are not subject to sanctions A protocol has been agreed among two NPM members to ensure that no prisoners or detainees are subject to reprisals or sanctions arising from their contact with monitors or visitors, and that actions are taken when such practices are reported. • Strengthening recommendations made to authorities An analysis of how recommendations are made and followed-up has been conducted across the NPM and will contribute to future work. Commenting on legislation and policy Many individual NPM members are active in implementing their powers to comment on legislation and policy. Being part of the NPM has encouraged members to submit joint proposals on areas of shared concern or interest, applying human rights norms to their analysis. These have included comments on: • A decision by the Home Office to provide 17-year-olds, detained in police custody, with an appropriate adult to assist them, and that a person responsible for their welfare is informed. • The Scottish Government’s decision to abolish prison visiting committees because they were not OPCAT-compliant and proposing that their monitoring role be taken up by the Scottish prison inspectorate. • The UK government’s proposals to transform the youth estate. • The Scottish Government’s proposals to reform policing, by successfully calling on the government to use this reform as an opportunity to strengthen custody visiting arrangements. • A range of parliamentary inquiries and bills on topics that include: female offenders; youth justice; the way in which deaths following police contact are investigated; and local authority responsibilities towards children looked after following remand. Looking ahead: the next five years of the NPM The UK NPM is using its fifth anniversary to take stock of its work and approaches to date. It will make public the results of its own assessment of the extent to which it is fulfilling its torture prevention mandate and identify ways of strengthening its work over the next five years in April 2014. 73