| 2017 | In its last report, the NPM paid particular attention to the amendment of the Minister of Justice regulation on administrative activities related to performing pre-trial detention or other sanctions resulting in deprivation of liberty and documenting those activities. According to the new meaning of paragraph 35, a prisoner whose life or health is seriously threatened may be admitted to the prison unit and should be immediately provided with sufficient healthcare. The NPM pointed out that the previous meaning of that section denied the prison authority the possibility of admitting a prisoner in such a condition to prison. According to the NPM, as long as the prison healthcare system is unable to provide prisoners with as comprehensive care as public healthcare does, the above-mentioned amendment will pose a threat to prisoners’ health and life. According to the NPM, architectural barriers occur mainly in units that were built long ago, in those that were placed on the list of architectural landmarks and in those that were designed without any adjustments for the needs of prisoners with disabilities. As a result, even if prisoners are placed in cells adjusted to their needs, they are frequently denied, due to architectural barriers, the ability to use common bathrooms, exercise yards, libraries etc. | Report details |
| 2018 | Despite an unambiguous regulation stipulating that in closed-type penitentiary facilities medical services are provided without the presence of non-medical staff, the NMPT still encounters situations where prison guards escorting the inmate remain present during the examination, although the medical staff does not ask for such presence. (…) Such a situation is inappropriate from the point of view of applicable provisions and undermines the protective character of the examination. | Report details |
| 2022 | Health services may be provided in the presence of a non-medical officer at the request of the person providing the health service, if this is necessary to ensure their safety. Despite this, the National Torture Prevention Mechanism observes with concern that the presence of officers during examinations nevertheless remains the rule. The NPMT recalls that all medical examinations of detainees (both immediately after admission and at a later stage) should be conducted out of hearing range of Prison Service officers and out of sight, unless a doctor in the case has raised an objection. This is crucial from the point of view of torture prevention, as only by guaranteeing confidentiality can detainees feel comfortable enough to report to the doctor that they have been mistreated. | Report details |
| 2022 | The NPM observes cases where inmates' access to medical care is illusory. Detainees have the possibility to see a doctor every day, however, practice shows that the waiting time for a medical examination is often up to several weeks (in the case of specialist doctors, the waiting time is even longer). Of course, the waiting time to see a doctor and specialist outside penitentiary units can also be long, but persons deprived of liberty cannot shorten the waiting time by going elsewhere or privately, according to Article 115 of the Executive Penal Code. Moreover, detainees depend on the opinion of only one doctor as a rule and have a significantly limited possibility to verify it with another doctor. There is also repeated information from detainees that most of their ailments are treated only with popular painkillers. | Report details |
| 2023 | In all the penitentiary units visited, the representatives of the KMPT diagnosed a number of problems and irregularities related to the broad issue of medical care. These included the following areas:
1) Insufficient medical and nursing staffing. Despite repeated advertisements and interviews
conducted with candidates for this position, there are no persons willing to take up the job. According to information obtained by the KMPT, the main problem is the uncompetitive, in relation to non-prison health care facilities, remuneration and difficult working conditions.
2) Lack of 24-hour medical care provided by nursing staff or paramedics In most of the penitentiary units visited, nurses and paramedics work from Monday to Friday during the working hours of the prison administration. At weekends and in the afternoons, a medical emergency team is called in case of emergencies. In the opinion of the KMPT, the lack of qualified medical staff on site constitutes a high-risk situation. This is because non-medical staff have to assess whether a call for an ambulance is necessary, which creates a risk of error and danger to the health of the detainees.
3) To carry out the examination in the presence of officers.
4) Long waiting times for psychiatric consultations. The average waiting time for a psychiatric
consultation is several months. In one of the units visited, this time was about three months and there were 200 detainees waiting at the time of the visit. Given the increasing number of detainees struggling with mental disorders, including those receiving pharmacotherapy for this reason and requiring systematic monitoring, this is an alarming situation.
5) Conducting medical examinations in handcuffs. The analysis of the monitoring during one of the conducted visits showed that one of the detainees had a medical examination conducted while remaining in handcuffs on his hands during the examination. It should be emphasised that Prison Service officers were also present during the examination. In addition, there were cases where detainees were handcuffed to hospital beds during their hospitalisation in the free health service. One interviewee described that, for health reasons, he was transported to hospital, where he spent the whole night on the bed, remaining in combination handcuffs. Only in the morning after a change of duty were they removed from him. He was then handcuffed to the bed with one hand. According to the CPT's position, this type of practice is unacceptable. The use of handcuffs (including leg shackles) during a medical examination or consultation is a practice that violates the dignity of the prisoner, hinders the development of a proper doctor-patient relationship and is detrimental to objective medical findings.
| Report details |