-15 namely: the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights for prison violence; the Hungarian Helsinki Committee for requests and complaints; the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee for persons in a situation of vulnerability; and the Associazione Antigone for solitary confinement. The Project started with a desk research phase on existing international standards related to the four thematic issues, as well as on how EU NPMs monitor and contribute to the development of the standards in these thematic areas.7 The research began after a brief initial consultation with NPMs to refine the Project focus.8 Within the framework of the Project several consultations took place. Representatives of NPMs and other experts exchanged experiences and best practices in four Workshops - one per each thematic issue - as well as a Final Conference during a FinalConference, which took place on 3 and 4 November 2020.9 In addition, each Project Partner conducted several bilateral interviews with representatives of NPMs, as well as other national or international experts and practitioners. The Project findings resulted into four thematic Handbooks. While there are strong interlinkages between the Handbooks, the Consortium found it necessary to have four separate Handbooks in order to address the specific international standards and monitoring challenges for each thematic issue in depth. Accordingly, each Handbook was authored by the staff of the Project Partner in charge of the respective thematic issue. The Handbooks are complemented by a Dossier on systemic thinking in preventive human rights monitoring (Dossier), produced by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute 7. The Project covered 22 EU Member States. 4 EU Member States (Belgium, Ireland, Latvia and Slovakia) were not covered because they have not yet ratified the OPCAT; 2 EU Member States (Denmark and the United Kingdom) were not covered because they do not to participate in the European Commission Justice Programme. The United Kingdom withdrew from the EU on 31 January 2020 and therefore since 1 February 2020 is no longer an EU Member State. 8. The online survey was conducted in March 2019. 14 out of 22 NPMs participated. 9. The first Workshop “Treatment of certain groups of prisoners in a situation of vulnerability Goal” took pace in Sofia on 18 – 19 November 2019; the second Workshop ‘Isolation and solitary confinement in prison’ took place in Rome on 27 – 28 January 2020; the third Workshop ‘Requests, complaint procedures and the right to information in prisons” took place online due to the Covid-19 pandemic on 27 – 30 April 2020; the fourth Workshop ‘Preventive Monitoring of Violence in Prisons” took place also online on 20, 27 May and 3 June 2020. Moreover in July 2020 an online consultation on the Systemic Approach to NPM work was held. Monitoring Prison Violence