CAT/OP/ARG/1/Add.1 72. In view of the need to regulate protection measures for especially vulnerable people, as mentioned above, the Protocol was drawn up by a working group, comprising staff from the Federal Prison Service, the National Human Rights Secretariat, the Office of the Ombudsman for the Prison System, the Chief Public Defender’s Office and human rights bodies. The Protocol was approved by the Federal Court of First Instance for Criminal and Correctional Cases No. 1, Secretariat No. 1, of Lomas de Zamora. 73. The Protocol, which is given in annex 2, was approved, subject to submission to the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, by the National Directorate of the Federal Prison Service in Decision No. 384 dated 10 April 2013 (Official Gazette No. 456), which specifically states that protection measures are exceptional, subsidiary, limited in time, subject to periodic monitoring and designed for the benefit of detainees, with the aim of strengthening the protection of the physical and psychological safety of persons deprived of their liberty held in any establishment of the Federal Prison Service. 74. The Protocol’s main objective is to ban individual or collective isolation and restrictions to the rights and activities of detainees, thereby preventing the deterioration of their detention conditions and the disruption of the activities in which they participate. The term “protection measures” covers a broad range of reasons for which persons deprived of their liberty may require special protection (e.g. being a first offender, sexual identity, the offence committed, the potential for conflict within the prison, wing or area, health problems, and acts of violence). 75. The National Directorate of the Federal Prison Service stated that these specific regulations are constantly being evaluated in order to improve substandard aspects. 5. Contact with the outside world 76. The procedure for visiting persons deprived of their liberty in the Federal Prison Service is laid down in the Communication Regulations for Inmates, approved by Decree No. 1136/97, issued by the federal executive branch (Official Gazette No. 71). 77. According to the regulations, visits by family or close relations may be: (a) ordinary; (b) extraordinary; (c) for family consolidation; (d) exceptional; or (e) between inmates. Family consolidation visits aim to consolidate and strengthen relationships between persons deprived of their liberty and their close family, who may include those accredited as spouses, parents, offspring, siblings or partners. 78. The National Directorate of the Federal Prison Service reported that the regime of visits for persons deprived of their liberty is applied in strict compliance with the regulations contained in current legislation, which neither specifically provides for conjugal visits between persons of the same sex nor forbids them, so that they are at present authorized. Prisons aim to conduct security procedures at visitor receptions as quickly as possible, depending on the number of visitors on any particular day. Furthermore, the regime of visits in the Federal Prison Service is much broader than that of any European prison system. 79. As previously stated, conjugal visits are not restricted on grounds of gender or sexual orientation, nationality or any other. Currently, such visits are granted to those able to provide proof of marriage or a cohabiting relationship, in which case a civil statement with two witnesses must be presented before a magistrate’s court. This applies to heterosexual and homosexual relationships, as well as relationships established within the prison. 80. Persons deprived of their liberty have access to public telephones in all prisons in order to communicate with their families and close relations. GE.14-40297 15