1. This report gives an account of the activity developed by the National Preventative Mechanism against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (hereinafter, NPM) throughout the year 2012, thus complying with the requirements established in the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT), to prepare a specific report on an annual basis. Obligation to prepare an In response to such obligation, the 2011 Annual Report of the NPM was submitted at the Official Records of the Spanish Parliament on the 6th of June 2012 and on the 3rd of July of the same year it was sent by post to the UN Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture (SPT), with headquarters in Geneva (Switzerland). On the 21st of February 2012 the Subcommittee convened the Spanish Ombudsman Insti­ tution to such city in order to present the Annual Report pertaining to year 2010. The 2010 Annual Report 2. As mentioned in paragraph 12 of the 2011 Annual Report, the visits have con­ tinued to be conducted by teams made up of persons with legal training, together with the assistance and cooperation of external technicians of well-established professional experience and knowledge, accredited in the matters referred to by the Optional Protocol, such as medicine, psychiatry or psychology. In this way, a contribution is made towards a comprehensive and multidisciplinary evaluation of the centers and places of deprivation of liberty, focusing on specific aspects of the visited facilities. The NPM conducts a 3. Since the beginning of its activity in March 2010, the Spanish NPM has con­ ducted 363 visits to places of deprivation of liberty and has consolidated a broad doctrine which has an effective influence on the activity of all the public admin­ istrations concerned. As is already widely known, the NPM carries out visits to centers of deprivation of liberty in order to identify structural and procedural problems which may help prevent the practice of torture or ill-treatment and to avoid their eventual impunity. After the visits, following the methodology used in previous years, conclusions are drafted and sent to the administrations concerned, in relation to the shortcomings identified. As a novelty in this report and in response to the requests sent by some representatives of the civil society, the conclusions of each center are shown in the charts included in an annex at the end of this report. Likewise, for ease of consultation of the visited facilities, it was judged appropriate to include in this report some follow-up charts of the visits conducted in year 2011, individualizing each place of deprivation of liberty and showing the conclusions drawn after the visit, as well as the resolutions formu­ lated during the investigation that was undertaken and the response of the rele­ vant administration. Since the beginning of the In those cases where the immediate measures proposed to improve the detention conditions are not adopted by the authorities, the NPM may formally make use of the relevant resolutions which the law recognizes to the Ombudsman Institu­ tion, such as Recommendations, Suggestions or Reminders of Legal Duties. Thus, in year 2012 a total of 118 Recommendations, 79 Suggestions and 8 Reminders of In year 2012, a total of 118 THE OMBUDSMAN OF SPAIN annual report was presented before the SPT (UN) on 21 February 2012 comprehensive and multidisciplinary evaluation of the visited places of deprivation of liberty activity in March 2010, 363 places of deprivation of liberty have been visited recommendations, 79 suggestions and 8 reminders of Legal Duties have been carried out 13