Details
Legal instruments & key provisions
| Legal instrument | Key provision |
|---|---|
| Executive Penal Code (Kodeks karny wykonawczy) | The penitentiary judge (sędzia penitencjarny) supervises the legality and regularity of the execution of, among others, a deprivation of liberty sentence, pre-trial detention, and coercive measures resulting in deprivation of liberty. |
| Executive Penal Code (Kodeks karny wykonawczy) | The Commissioner for Human Rights (Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich), who in Poland carries out the mandate of the NPM, or a person authorised by him or her shall have the right to enter at any time, without restriction, prisons, remand centres and other places where persons deprived of liberty are detained, and to move around their premises, to inspect documents and request explanations from the administration of these units, as well as to interview persons deprived of liberty in the absence of other persons and to examine their applications, complaints and requests. |
| , Act on the exercise of the mandate of deputy and senator (Ustawa o wykonywaniu mandatu posła i senatora) | Penitentiary units can be accessed by national parliamentarians as part of a broader power to intervene in government bodies. The directors of penitentiary units are obliged to receive without delay any MP who has arrived on a matter resulting from the exercise of his or her mandate, and to provide information and explanations relating to the matter. |
NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM RECOMMENDATIONS
| Year | Recommendation | Report |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | On 11 April 2021, the Deputy Commissioner for Human Rights visited the Warsaw I District Police Station at 21 Wilcza Street. After interviewing a person detained in a separate room for personal checks, subsequent interviews with the detainee were filmed by a police officer, who also recorded sound. At attention drawn to him that such behaviour was preventing the implementation of the NPM's mandate, the officer stated that he had been instructed to do so. The attitude of the police officer recording the conversation was met with the understanding of his superiors, who, despite the intervention of the Deputy Commissioner, did not withdraw from the given order. | Report details |
| 2023 | During one-on-one interviews between a NPM worker and an inmate of Barczewo Prison, a situation occurred in which his safety may have been at risk and his good name and previous good reputation were put at risk. Wanting to leave the monitored room in the unit for so-called dangerous inmates, where he was interviewing inmates, the NPM employee waited in vain for more than 15 minutes for the reaction of the Prison Service officers. The NPM employee signalled the need to leave the room not only by using the summoning system, but also by making meaningful gestures towards the camera monitoring the room. The officers did not open the room until 15 minutes after the first use of the call system. This is corroborated by the room's surveillance recordings. | Report details |