PP N PM ANNUAL REPORT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF ACTIVITIES OF THE NPM 2. WORKING METHODS OF THE NPM As already stated, the basic task of the NPM is regular visits to places where persons deprived of their liberty reside. It is necessary to emphasise that persons deprived of their liberty, pursuant to the ANPM and OPCAT, are persons on whom any form of detention, imprisonment or placement in a public custodial setting which they are not permitted to leave at will has been imposed. In the Republic of Croatia, these places are the following: • places under the authority of the Ministry of Justice: penitentiaries (seven), prisons (fourteen), correctional institutions (two); • places under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior: detention and police custody facilities 1 , the Reception Centre for Aliens; • places under the authority of the Ministry of Health: psychiatric hospitals for the placement of persons with mental impairments (four), other health institutions which have contracted psychiatric services with the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (CHIF) (twenty-seven) and the Special Hospital for Chronic Diseases of Children, Gornja Bistra; • places under the authority of the Ministry of Social Policy and Youth: homes for adult persons with mental disorders, family homes and other types of legal entities offering permanent accommodation for adult persons with mental impairments (fifty-one); homes for persons with physical, intellectual and sensory impairments, family homes and other types of legal entities offering permanent accommodation for persons with physical, intellectual and sensory impairments (sixty-six); homes for children with behaviour disorders (twelve); homes for elderly and frail persons, family homes and other legal entities offering permanent accommodation for elderly and frail persons (four hundred and thirty-seven); • places under the authority of the Ministry of Defence facilities for the temporary custody of members of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia (five). Every visit takes place in accordance with a previously determined plan which contains basic information about the condition of the body or the institution to be visited. It highlights the main problems and contains data on the last visit and a distribution of areas to be visited by a particular member of the NPM, taking into consideration his or her profession and narrower specialisation. In addition, prior to the visit, a questionnaire on 1 We have no accurate data on the number of detention and custody facilities because some of them are used both as detention and custody units. We estimate there are about 250 of them. 10