FOREWORD The National Agency for the Prevention of Torture is the body responsible in Germany for ensuring humane conditions and treatment in custody. The National Agency for the Prevention of Torture comprises the Federal Agency for the Prevention of Torture and the Joint Commission of the Länder for the Prevention of Torture, which every year submit a joint Annual Report to the Federal Government, the German Bundestag, the Land governments and the Land parliaments. This Annual Report covers the period from 1 January to 31 December 2014. The National Agency visited a total of 58 facilities in 2014, giving priority to youth detention centres. Its expectations in respect of the execution of youth detention are set out in Chapter III, section 1. The findings and recommendations of the Federal Agency and of the Joint Commission made on the basis of their visits plus the responses of the supervisory authorities are presented in Chapters II and III. The Federal Agency was already enlarged in 2013 following the appointment of a second member. On 6 November 2014 the Conference of Ministers of Justice of the Länder then decided to expand the Joint Commission as of 1 January 2015 by appointing four new members drawn from the field of psychiatry, from the police and youth welfare services. Increasing the membership both of the Federal Agency and of the Joint Commission represents a key step towards creating a more effective preventive mechanism. Expanding their human resources will also lead to the scaling up of the programme of visits, as in future more facilities outside of the prison system are to be inspected. Moreover, the new members will enrich the work of the National Agency on account of their diverse professional expertise. 5