Logatec Education and Training Institution (ZVI Logatec) ZVI Logatec implements two basic activities, i.e. an educational one in programmes of lower vocational schools, and a training one in three educational groups and two residential groups located in Ljubljana and Postojna. ZVI Logatec took over the residential group in Postojna from Planina Residential Treatment Institution in 2012. ZVI Logatec accepts adolescents between the ages of 14 and 18, but also accommodates adolescents above the age of 18 who are transferred to the institution on the basis of court decisions. Only boys are accommodated in the main unit in Logatec, but girls are also accommodated in the residential groups. The residential groups accept adolescents who are mature and responsible enough to go to school independently or go to work. At the time of our visit, the main unit housed 21 adolescents in three educational groups; 9 female and male adolescents were in the residential group in Postojna, and 5 female and male adolescents were in the Rdeča kljuka residential group in Ljubljana. The most frequent reasons for placing adolescents in institutions were truancy and running away from home, early school leaving, conflicts in the social environment, minor offences and criminal offences. ZVI Logatec deals with a very challenging population, which, due to the incredible efforts of the staff to create a pleasant atmosphere and the best conditions for learning, and who help adolescents to create a positive self-image, remains a haven for many adolescents. Review of recommendations and responses The institutions accepted most of our recommendations, and have also implemented some of them. In the response, the headteacher of MD Maribor even doubted whether the supervision of youth homes fell within the jurisdiction of the NPM, and made comments on the implementation of the visit and comments on individual recommendations. The headteacher obtained further clarifications about the powers of the NPM and the Ombudsman to implement supervision from the Information Commissioner and the Ministry of Justice. In its response report, the MIZŠ wrote that the headteacher had been informed in writing that the Ombudsman could visit MD Maribor at any time, announced or unannounced. The recommendations made in 2016 to all four institutions were divided into individual sets. Living conditions When speaking with NPM representatives, adolescents in MD Maribor said that they were not allowed to put pictures or images on the walls of their rooms which display their personal interests. The NPM assessed this prohibition as unfounded. Since the adolescents reside in the home for a lengthy period and thus do not change rooms at short intervals, the NPM proposed that the adolescents be allowed to decorate rooms according to their own wishes and with suitable content. The NPM believed that the relevant prohibition was not compliant with the MD’s objective of creating a homely and family environment. The NPM suggested a change in the rules and the inclusion of arranging and decorating rooms in the individual work programme, with the possibility of using an item of furniture (e.g. a chair) from home. In their reply to our preliminary report, the management of MD Maribor explained: “Communal areas are dull, cold? Subjective assessments from your side are unacceptable and unprofessional. Classic curtains are also no longer used in modern apartments. Judging on the basis of the messy wardrobes of children and adolescents, a full refrigerator, curtains and flower pots or a possible stain in the bathroom is utterly unacceptable, since a person may have a thousand flower pots, diamond curtains, a large garden with a greenhouse outside their house, but that does not create a sense of homeliness. A friendly home is created by people, the atmosphere, relations, and not subjective experience and perceptions about things and rooms. Painting the inside of a refrigerator, painting of individuals’ wardrobes is a severe intervention in the intimacy of a group and an individual. In our assessment, it is an inadmissible encroachment on the lives and work of children and adolescents. The adolescents can decorate their room according to their wishes given the spatial possibilities and while also considering their roommates. Due to limited financial resources, we wish the walls to remain undamaged. Adolescents who will be accommodated in these rooms at a later time also deserve to have nice and undamaged rooms.” The NPM proposed that ZVI Logatec decorate the communal and sleeping areas in cooperation with the residents to repair broken/worn out furniture (polish damaged wooden tables and chairs, perhaps change covers on sofas, display adolescents’ handicrafts on the shelves, equip the shelves with books, put paintings, photographs, posters etc. on the walls). 94 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DUTIES AND POWERS OF THE NPM IN 2016 NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM UNDER THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT