Places visited by the National Preventive Mechanism in 2011 c) Coercive measures The representatives of the National Preventive Mechanism on each visit watched recordings presenting the placing of prisoners in a safe cell. In the opinion of the National Preventive Mechanism, gross irregularities in using coercive measures were found in the Prison in Sieradz, resulting in degrading and inhuman treatment of prisoners subject to those measures. An analysis of the recordings from monitoring revealed that a prisoner placed in a safe cell had not received a meal from 12:09 pm to 9:17 am on the following day. Pursuant to §9(4) of the Ordinance of the Council of Ministers of 27 July 2010 on the application of coercive measures and the use of fire-arms and police dogs by the Prison Service officers41, every person placed in a safe cell must receive meals and have access to the toilet. The National Preventive Mechanism also voiced its objections as to the use of coercive measure against another prisoner who was pinned by an officer with a shield, although he did not resist and was passive. The National Preventive Mechanism reminds that pursuant to the case law of the ECHR in Strasbourg, the use of force against a prisoner, which has not been made strictly necessary by his own conduct and is not excessive, is an infringement of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights42, since it diminishes human dignity43. Furthermore, the prisoner was only in his underwear during his entire stay in the cell, he did not receive a meal and could not go to the toilet and urinated unintentionally as a result. The above irregularities found by the visiting team violate §9(3) and (4) of the above Ordinance and, first of all, constitute a degrading and inhuman treatment. Similar reservations were voiced about the treatment of a prisoner placed in a safe cell in the Prison in Nowy Wiśnicz. In the opinion of the NPM, the use of physical force to carry the prisoner into the vestibule of the cell was inadequate to the situation. Furthermore, the prisoner was handcuffed with his hands behind his back for 11.5 hours, also at night. Furthermore, the fact that the prisoner moved around the cell with his genitals bare also constitutes a degrading treatment. None of the officers monitoring the cell saw to it that the prisoner was fully dressed when placed in the safe cell. The representatives of the National Preventive Mechanisms also voiced their reservations about the living conditions in the safe cell in the Pre-Trial Detention Centre in Grójec. On the day of the visit the safe room was cold and, although no prisoner was placed there, the visiting team found that the radiator in the vestibule of the room where prisoners are placed was not sufficient to heat the cell. There was also no toilet for the prisoner, but only a bucket for that purpose. In the opinion of the representatives of the National Preventive Mechanism, the fact that the prisoner cannot use the toilet and must use a bucket instead violates his dignity and contradicts the provisions set forth in Article 3 of the  Dz. U. of 2010 No 147, item 983.  Dz. U. of 1993 No 61, item 284, as amended.  See: Ribitsch v. Austria, Complaint No 18896/91, Altay v. Turkey, Complaint No 22279/93, Krastanov v. Bulgaria, Complaint No 50222/99. 41 42 43 33