Activities during the period 1 August 2008 to 31 July 2009 41. The CPT is also obliged to reiterate that a country’s co-operation with the Committee cannot be described as satisfactory in the absence of action to strengthen the protection of persons deprived of their liberty from ill-treatment. Indeed, the raison d’être of the system established by the ECPT is to bring about necessary change in the light of the Committee’s findings. Regrettably, many of the countries visited over the last twelve months were found to have failed to implement recommendations on key issues repeatedly made by the CPT after previous visits. Plenary meetings and activities of subgroups 42. The CPT held three one-week plenary meetings during the twelve months covered by this General Report – in November 2008, and March and July 2009. A total of 18 visit reports were adopted by the Committee at these meetings, eight of them being drawn up under the expedited drafting procedure (according to which draft visit reports prepared by visiting delegations which are circulated at least two weeks before a plenary session are taken as approved without debate, save for paragraphs in respect of which a discussion has been specifically requested in advance). 43. As usual, much of the CPT’s work during the last twelve months has taken place in the context of subgroups of the Committee. In addition to the delegations responsible for the carrying out of visits, there are two standing subgroups which meet on a regular basis, namely the medical group and the working group on the CPT’s jurisprudence. The ad hoc working group on safeguards for irregular migrants deprived of their liberty submitted its conclusions to the CPT at the July 2009 plenary session, and they formed the basis of the substantive section contained in this General Report. The ad hoc working group on the use of electro-shock and directed energy weapons in detention-related situations has pursued its examination of this subject, and the issue could be addressed in a substantive section of the 20th General Report. At its November 2008 plenary session, the CPT set up a new ad hoc working group to examine the question of prisoners’ contacts with the outside world. 21