Places visited by the National Preventive Mechanism in 2011
• Stopping the collective sanctions;
• Eliminating the sanction in the form of work for the Centre, and adjust the provisions of the Regulations/Statute accordingly;
• Eliminating the sanction in the form of a transfer to another establishment and
adjust the provisions of the Regulations/Statute accordingly;
• Eliminating the sanction in the form of deprivation/suspension of the juvenile’s
rights and adjust the provisions of the Regulations/Statute accordingly;
• Eliminating the sanction in the form of physical exercise and adjust the provisions
of the Regulations/Statute accordingly;
• Specifying the duration of disciplinary sanctions inflicted and using them taking
into account individual characteristics;
• Including in the Regulations the information about persons authorised to inflict
sanctions and about the appeal procedure;
• Amending the provisions of the Statutes with respect to the list of rewards and
rights, by excluding the rights of juveniles and separating the rights of juveniles
from their privileges.
c) Right to health care
Health care provided to juveniles in the majority of visited Centres did not raise any
concerns of the employees of the National Preventive Mechanism. It was also positively assessed by juveniles themselves. The only exception was Youth Care Centre No 2 in Warsaw
where the organisation of health care raised serious concerns of the visiting team. The juvenile residents complained about difficulties in getting to the doctor and medical specialists,
including gynaecologists and dentists; the files lacked information about the health status
of juveniles upon admission to the centre, and the Rules governing health care contained
the following statement: The Centre provides ad hoc medical assistance, but due to the lack
of a nurse we cannot treat the earlier detected conditions of the juvenile residents.
The National Preventive Mechanism reminds that juveniles should have access not
only to paediatricians/internists, but also to other specialists. Bearing in mind that such
centres usually admit juveniles from the environments with not only the lack of parental
care, but also the lack of proper health care, and the duration of the juveniles’ stay in
such centres, i.e. until they finish 18 years of age, the treatment of even earlier contracted
diseases should be provided at the centre. The Mechanism recommended that measures
should be taken immediately, aimed at improving the organisation of health care and
access to it by juveniles.
Some centres did not employ any medical personnel – neither a nurse, a doctor nor a
hygienist. In case of health problems, juveniles from those centres were taken to see the
doctor at nearby health care centres. However, in the opinion of the employees of the National Preventive Mechanism, a nurse should be employed permanently in such establishments, due to the incidents of self-mutilation among juveniles and to the fact that
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