MONITORING PLACES OF DETENTION : A PRACTICAL GUIDE ■ Regime and activities ■ Medical services ■ Personnel 89 It is not necessary to go into great detail about those aspects of the conditions of detention which are adequate, although it is recommended that positive aspects be mentioned. A priority ranking should be established for problematic areas: ■ emphasis on the most serious problems, ■ emphasis on the main problems which give rise to other problems; When reporting on torture, ill-treatment or any situation the visitor has not witnessed, great caution should be adopted in expressing the information. The terminology adopted should clearly differentiate between what ’is’ and what is ’alleged’ or ’reported’. The objective is to ask the authorities to investigate and react. The visiting body should also make absolutely certain that detainees’ personal details are mentioned only with their express consent, and that the content of the body’s reports does not jeopardise the individuals it has visited. Recommendations It is important for recommendations to be addressed to the right level of authority. In visit reports, recommendations should be addressed directly to the officials in charge of the place of detention, who have the authority to make changes and implement recommendations. If root causes lie outside the competence of the senior manager, then problems need to be addressed at a different level and in a different report.