centres, prison facilities, young offender institutions, social-health centres, foreign national
transfer operations and hospital custody units.
It is standard practice for these visits to be unannounced, except for FRONTEX
repatriation flights and visits made with foreign delegations, which need to be scheduled for
matters related to organisation and safety.
It is worth noting that all the facilities visited have collaborated with us, through their staff.
The NPM has an Advisory Council, whose members are proposed by professional
associations and people with a renowned track-record in human rights or matters related to the
treatment of preople deprived of liberty for any reason, who hold office following an official state
exam; Council members also participate in the visits and make observations to be taken into
account.
The Ombudsman’s webpage, under the heading Prevención de la Tortura (Prevention of
Torture), provides information on all the visits made this year and in previous years, as well as
the resolutions issued to the Administration and replies received. We have also uploaded videos
recorded during some of these visits.
In short-term deprivation of liberty facilities, we have essentially focused on how new
regulations are being applied, affecting the inmates (reformed Criminal Procedure Act
(LECRIM), which came into force in late 2015, and instructions issued by the Secretary of State
for Security on the conditions of these arrests).
At foreign national detention centres (CIEs) we have inspected how Operating
Regulations and Internal Rules are followed.
Both the Ombudsman and autonomous commissioners also participate in these visits,
and relations have intensified with social groups providing assistance at these facilities.
The main objective of these visits is to ascertain that human rights are upheld in all
deprivation of liberty centres and, if any shortcoming or misapplication is observed in the rules
guaranteeing these rights, to request an immediate amendment or remedy.
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