National Preventive Mechanism It may be necessary to change conditions so that even fragile or sick inmates can spend time outdoors (e.g. the need for toilet facilities nearby for incontinent inmates, barrier-free access to the yard, etc.). ¾¾ Psychiatric and psychological care is part of health care and, as such, must be ensured by the institutions. ¾¾ Regular visits, in particular, should help prevent the physical and emotional neglect of long-time inmates. ¾¾ Inmates have the same right to care and nursing as persons who are at liberty. ¾¾ Older, fragile or sick persons must be enabled to spend time in the fresh air at regular intervals to maintain their health or promote healing. Working group set up A few weeks after the case became known, the Federal Minister of Justice addressed the question of what arrangements are needed to make the detention of mentally ill offenders more humane and treatment-oriented. He deployed a working group to answer this question. The group was tasked with surveying the current state of detention of mentally ill offenders defining specific problem areas and making proposals for improvement from an organisational and legislative perspective. All disciplines represented The working group on reform includes high-ranking representatives of the Federal Ministry of Justice, the Federal Ministry of Health and the prison administration as well as experts and scientists with various specialisations. The Chairwoman of the Monitoring Committee for the Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and a representative of the NPM were also invited. After discussions of principles at the plenary session, the working group divided into four sub-working groups. They developed reform proposals on the topics “Policy and Boundary Issues”, “Assessment” and “Correctional Practice”, which were then discussed at the plenary session. Comprehensive evaluation 140 The NPM representative primarily participated in the sub-working group on Correctional Practice, which was, in turn, divided into seven sub-groups, which concerned themselves with the following topics: “Development and expansion of legal protection for patient’s rights“, “Quality assurance and monitoring as well as system-related scientific research“, “Avoidance of unconditional instructions“, “Control of the system for the detention of mentally ill offenders”, “Placement, treatment and care practices in correctional institutions and psychiatric hospitals”, “Improvements in the area of conditional release” and “Transition management and after-care”.