The first one concerned THE LACK OF CLEAR RULES OF PROCEDURE UPON RECEIVING INFORMATION ABOUT SUBJECTING PERSONS PLACED IN PENITENTIARY ESTABLISHMENTS TO TORTURE OR OTHER FORMS OF VIOLENCE. An independent medical examination coupled with proper documentation of injuries constitute one of the fundamental guarantees protecting persons deprived of their liberty against torture and other forms of violence. This stance is shared by international institutions which monitor the treatment of imprisoned persons: the SPT and the CPT. Therefore, the Commissioner for Human Rights, acting as the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture requested the Director General of the Prison Service19 to impose an obligation on prison doctors conducting the initial medical examination of inmates to use the so-called body maps. Such a solution would make sure that the examination of persons deprived of their liberty would be an actual and reliable evaluation of their health status instead of merely an opinion expressed on the basis of a superficial conversation with the patient. However, the exchange of arguments with the Deputy Director General of the Prison Service failed to bring the outcome expected by the NMPT. In the final reply the Deputy of the Director General of the Prison Service stated that it seems completely groundless to introduce changes with respect to the so-called international soft law concerning medical documentation. (…) It is obvious that legal regulations applicable at the moment on the territory of the Republic of Poland fully cover the issues presented in the document20. The second general intervention concerned THE NEED TO ENSURE APPROPRIATE LEVEL AND CONDITIONS OF CONDUCTING THERAPEUTIC AND REHABILITATION PROGRAMS BY PENITENTIARY PSYCHOLOGISTS. That issue has been monitored by the NMPT since 2016. Visits paid to penitentiary establishments still revealed that in some cases there was one psychologist per 200 inmates. Therefore, the Commissioner for Human Rights once again contacted the Director General of the Prison Service21 with an inquiry about changes that were made to increase the availability of psychological staff to prisoners. In response22 the Deputy Director General stated that the staffing level of penitentiary psychologists as at 31 December 2018 was 458,75 full-time equivalents, which represents 19 20 21 22 22 General Intervention of the CHR to the Director General of the Prison Service of 29 January 2019, KMP.571.6.2017. Response to the General Intervention of the Commissioner for Human Rights of 13 June 2019, BSZ.55.5.2019. AP. General Intervention of the CHR to the Director General of the Prison Service of 19 February 2019, KMP.571.8.2016. Letter of the Deputy Director General of the Prison Service of 11 March 2019, no. BP-P-615-2019/11510/ AZD/JK/MR. PART II – How does the nmpt work?