Using the example of the Saualm (Carinthia) as a controversial, privately operated facility that provides a basic level of services, the AOB has defined throughout the Laender that the operators of such facilities are not permitted to undertake measures depriving asylum seekers of freedom or to specify such measures in house rules, etc. If unlawful measures depriving them of freedom are nevertheless undertaken and the competent supervisory authority is aware of these practices without taking action against them, or if it could have become aware of these practices, if it had undertaken proper supervision and exercised its authority, then establishments providing a basic level of social services in the Laender would also have to be classified as places of detention under Art. 4 of the OPCAT. Facilities for health and social services 46 investigations Up until the end of the year, 46 investigations of social institutions took place: 20 facilities for the elderly and the aged, 9 facilities for persons with disabilities, 4 children’s and youth welfare facilities, and 13 psychiatric hospitals or departments. High willingness to cooperate Without exception, the Commissions met with a willingness to cooperate. It should be highlighted that the Commissions can attest that the personnel – across all the different types of institutions and facilities – showed expertise and professionalism, as well as empathetic treatment of the persons under their care. Urgent need for action in a facility for minors After being notified by NGOs, a Commission visited a facility for unaccompanied minors twice within three weeks. It was determined that three care-givers working 24-hour shifts were alternately responsible for 17 (occasionally 20) minors aged 8 to 18. The facility is set up for the care of ten minors and was devised to be a temporary solution. One of the adolescents has, however, already lived in this facility for an entire year. Overcrowding and a shortage of personnel, the long working hours and the lack of a sociopedagogical concept have resulted in unacceptable conditions for everyone involved. Additional factors are that intake case histories have not been taken and no therapy in the native languages of the minors is available, although obvious trauma symptoms and attachment disorders were observed. There are reports of self-mutilation and violence-prone incidents. An emergency report to the AOB recommended an immediate increase in personnel and the creation of more care capacity that corresponds to customary standards in youth welfare. The AOB took immediate action. 52