33 Healthcare services available to persons deprived of their liberty, i.e., medical treatment, necessary diets, therapeutic appliances and equipment, rehabilitation or any other special treatment, should be provided on conditions generally available to the members of society. The barrier-free accessibility, furnishing and equipment of healthcare institutions treating persons deprived of their liberty, as well as their medical, nursing and technical personnel should be provided with a view to the aforementioned requirements. 7.5. Activities, leisure Measures aimed at counterbalancing isolation and inactivity caused by deprivation of freedom are of key importance in each and every sector of detention. The NPM’s visits pay special attention to what community, cultural, educational and outdoor programs are provided to persons deprived of their liberty. 7.6. Means of restraint, the use of disciplinary and restraining measures Restricting liberty and using disciplinary and restraining measures, in themselves, affect the enforcement of fundamental rights. The risks deriving therefrom may be lessened through the adoption and proper application of the adequate legal regulations. My colleagues also investigate incidents having occurred in the given place of detention, as well as the conflict management methods used by the personnel. They examine how the personnel administers the use of means of restraint and disciplinary actions against persons deprived of their liberty who violate the rules of the place of detention, and the use of restraining measures in social and healthcare institutions. The inspection of the existing documentation of the use of means of restraint, disciplinary actions and restraining measures, in addition to the notes taken by the personnel, also involves checking who monitors, and how, those actions’ appropriateness and lawfulness and whether their extent is in accordance with the prevailing legal regulations. 7.7. Relations between persons deprived of their liberty and their relationship with the staff of the place of detention As a balanced human relationship of persons deprived of their liberty with one another and with the staff of the given place of detention is one of the most effective means of preventing illtreatment, my colleagues thoroughly examine such relationships every time they visit a place of detention. The visiting delegations inquire into the relationships between persons deprived of their liberty using the same facilities, paying special attention to gathering information on cases of violence among the detainees. Mixed gender staffing is another safeguard against ill-treatment in places of detention.102 Since persons deprived of their liberty should only be searched by staff of the same gender and any search which requires an inmate to undress should be conducted out of the sight of custodial staff of the opposite gender103, my colleagues also examine the gender composition of the persons deprived of their liberty, the custodial staff, the nurses etc. in the course of their visits. The experience of the on-the-spot inspections, conducted by the ombudsman institution during the last twenty years, shows that when the staff of a place of detention is frustrated in the 102 103 See Clause 26 of CPT/Inf (99) 12 See Clause 23 of CPT/Inf (2000) 13