CAT/OP/12 A. States parties 13. On the basis of the information received from States parties, the Subcommittee notes the following areas of concern: (a) of liberty; Insufficient attention paid to the population at risk within places of deprivation (b) Disproportionate tightening of security in many places of deprivation of liberty, including long periods spent locked up in the cells, excessive use of isolation measures and suspension of communication with the outside world, which in some regions has resulted in violence and riots; (c) Suspension of all existing forms of home leave for persons deprived of liberty; (d) Lack of adequate information provided to persons deprived of liberty, their families, staff and others, regarding the situation resulting from the pandemic and the measures taken in each place of deprivation of liberty; (e) Inadequate use of alternative measures to compensate for the suspension of family visits, including prohibition of digital means of communication; (f) Restriction or suspension of complaints mechanisms; (g) Lack of implementation of alternative measures to imprisonment, especially in cases of short custodial sanctions; (h) Discontinuation of therapeutic programmes in places of deprivation of liberty; (i) Massive, arbitrary arrests and excessive use of force by police for the purposes of implementing pandemic-related restriction measures, which in some instances involved the detention of groups of persons, without the necessary sanitary measures; (j) Insufficient provision of basic hygiene materials, personal protection equipment and health counselling for law enforcement, security and detention personnel, and insufficient health personnel dedicated to staff and detainees; (k) Failure to set up official data-collection mechanisms in places of deprivation of liberty on health, including on death, cause of death, or persons infected or placed in quarantine, and the excessive use of force, including cases of torture and ill-treatment, in relation to the pandemic. B. National preventive mechanisms 14. On the basis of the information received, the Subcommittee shares concerns voiced by the national preventive mechanisms with regard to the execution of their mandate during the pandemic, including the following: (a) Suspension of national preventive mechanism visits or denial of access to places of deprivation of liberty, and the prohibition of remote monitoring by the mechanisms; (b) Insufficient additional material and financial resources received from the State to enable the national preventive mechanisms to carry out their activities during the pandemic; (c) Lack of consultations with national preventive mechanisms by States when creating COVID-19 task forces, and difficulties in conducting online meetings with the national authorities; (d) Issues related to ensuring confidentiality while using alternative means for conducting interviews with persons deprived of liberty. 5