VISITS TO PRISONS AND JUVENILE PRISONS seen by other patients or event their visitors. We nevertheless commended the staff’s efforts to keep a patient on whom the measure was implemented in a room on their own if possible. In 2018, we also paid a control visit to Idrija Psychiatric Hospital, where we examined the observance of recommendations submitted during the regular visit in 2016. Unfortunately, we discovered that the hospital accepted most of the 20 recommendations given at the time, but it had not yet realised them. Two recommendations were not accepted, and only one was realised, i.e. the informing of patients and their relatives about antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. On the occasion of this visit, we forwarded nine new recommendations (to an extent, these were partly repeated, but unrealised recommendations from 2016). The new recommendations referred to living conditions (decorating of common areas and patients’ rooms), food (menus were not published in one of the wards), discussion or forms of work (monitoring the number of patients in pyjamas), records or documentation (deficiencies on forms completed when using special protection measures, due diligence when filling them out, exceeding deadlines when informing the next of kin on the use of special protection measures), discussion of unwanted behaviour (use of belts intended to hinder patients in loungers) and legal protection or complaints channels (provision of a pen so that a patient may submit an anonymous complaint). After the hospital’s response, we determined that the majority of new recommendations were accepted, but not realised (when drafting the NPM Annual Report, we were still waiting the response from the Ministry of Health). Namely, the hospital only had realised two recommendations (meticulous completion of forms and accessibility of a pen), and failed to accept two recommendations (monitoring the number of patients in pyjamas and exceeding the deadlines when informing the next of kin). 3.4 VISITS TO PRISONS AND JUVENILE PRISONS In 2018, we visited five prisons or their units at other locations. Four regular visits, i.e. to Maribor Prison, Nova Gorica Unit of Koper Prison, Rogoza Open Unit of Maribor Prison and the convict unit of Ljubljana Prison, were unannounced. One control visit, to Murska Sobota Unit of Maribor Prison, was announced. The control visit to Murska Sobota Unit of Maribor Prison was attended by two representatives of the Armenian NPM as external observers, and a representative from the Serbian NPM acted as an observer during the regular visit to the convict unit of Ljubljana Prison. On the occasion of the control visit, it was determined that seven recommendations (from the visit in 2016) were accepted and realised, four were accepted, but not yet realised, and two recommendations were rejected. When visiting prisons in 2018, we submitted 67 recommendations, of which 41 were targeted, two systemic and 24 general. The recommendations referred to the possibilities for activities (seven recommendations), living conditions (25 recommendations), other (two recommendations), records and documentation (one recommendation), discussion of unwanted behaviour and violations of house rules (one recommendation), discussion of prisoners and forms of work (13 recommendations), staff (ten recommendations), food (two recommendations), general (one recommendation), contacts with the outside world (two recommendations) and health care (three recommendations). From a total of 67 recommendations, 24 were accepted and realised, and 23 were accepted, but not yet realised; the Prison Administration of the Republic of Slovenia did not state its position with regard to two recommendations, and two were not accepted. The Prison Administration had not replied by the beginning of January 2019 relating to 16 recommendations given during the visit to the convict unit of Ljubljana Prison, which is why data on implemented recommendations were not observed. The data above reveal that many recommendations were realised or were accepted. Accepted, but not yet realised are the recommendations that take more time to eliminate established deficiencies (for example, certain project documentation must be prepared), or when the recommendation refers to the already planned activities in the visited prison or its unit at a different location, but with a delay (e.g. we visited them in the first half of the year, and the activities for realisation of the relevant issue were planned in the second half of the year). The recommendations not accepted by the Prison Administration referred to the Nova Gorica Unit of Koper Prison, i.e. the recommendation that the NPM had already repeated on several visits about the renovation of the solitary confinement cell. This recommendation was repeated again during this visit since the Prison Administration stated after the visit in 2016 that the proposal would be discussed when 38 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DUTIES AND POWERS OF THE NPM IN 2018 NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM UNDER THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT