Annual Report 2014 of the National Preventive Mechanism The list of external experts who cooperated with the NPM is provided in Annex IX to this report. We point out that, one more year, it has been customary practice for the responsible authorities to cooperate during the visits, permitting access to all the facilities and documents and the holding of interviews, both with personnel and with the persons deprived of liberty, facilitating the work of the NPM. The main purpose of the visits is to detect possible deficiencies in the treatment afforded and conditions applied to persons deprived of liberty that could favour torture or ill-treatment, or that could hinder the investigation of such acts and, as the case may be, their punishment. Accordingly, after the relevant inspections, the NPM draws up its conclusions which are conveyed to the responsible authorities for them to take them into consideration and make any improvements they consider necessary to correct the problems eventually detected, reminding them that, should they fail to make such improvements, the Recommendations, Suggestions or Reminders of Legal Duties would be sent, exercising the prerogatives that the law affords the Ombudsman’s Office. Thus, in 2014, 84 Recommendations, 114 Suggestions and 6 Reminders of legal duties were sent, as shown in the following charts: CHART 1 Recommendations, Suggestions and Reminders of legal duties Recommendations 2014 Suggestions 2014 Pending an answer: 16 Not accepted: 13 Accepted: 55 Pending an answer: 6 Not accepted: 21 Accepted: 87 Reminders of legal duties 2014 Answered: 6 12