Report of the HRD on the activities of the National Preventive Mechanism in Poland in 2011 When revisiting the Prison in Płock the representatives of the Mechanism found that the recommendation to adjust the contents of the Charter of Patients’ Rights to the binding law, and in particular to the situation of patients deprived of liberty, had been fulfilled. The patient room of the Prison in Nowy Wiśnicz was not used only for the purposes it was intended for. During the visits, two healthy persons were accommodated in the room49. In reply, the heads of the Pre-Trial Detention Centre in Grójec and the Pre-Trial Detention Centre in Olsztyn, the Prison in Nowy Wiśnicz and the Prison in Wadowice, agreed with the recommendations of the Mechanism concerning the “Charter of Patients’ Rights”. In response to the recommendations of the Mechanism, the head of the Prison in Nowy Wiśnicz stated that prisoners were placed in the patient room in line with its intended purpose. According to the head of the Prison in Wadowice, a cell which is to serve as a patient room was handed over in November 2011. The head of the Prison in Trzebinia stated that the information about preventive health care had been erroneously presented to the members of the NPM. He informed that a wide range of preventive health care services was offered, including HIV tests, X-rays of lungs, dental checkups, periodical vaccination and educational activities. The head of the Prison in Sieradz also declared that the prisoners in his establishment underwent preventive examinations and participated in preventive medicine programmes. He added that non-medical staff was present during the medical examination only at the request of a doctor and, in the case of intimate examinations, the patient and the doctor are out of view of non-medical staff. The Director General of the Prison Service informed the Mechanism that medical staff at the Prison in Nowogard were instructed to provide health care services to prisoners in a way protecting medical confidentiality. The National Preventive Mechanism recommended to: • Provide health care services out of sight and hearing range of the Prison Service officers; • Provide preventive health care services to prisoners; • Ensure sufficient and permanent access to information about the patients’ rights, e.g. by placing the “Charter of Patients’ Rights” (adjusted to persons placed in penitentiary establishments) in a visible place in the rooms for patients. e) Disciplinary responsibility Awards and penalties which are not provided for in the Executive Penal Code50 have not been applied in the visited establishments. However, during the interviews at the External Ward of the Pre-Trial Detention Centre in Olsztyn the prisoners complained that prison officers repeatedly threatened to lodge requests for punishing them. The prisoners claimed that such repeated threats led to a  More information on the subject in: Living conditions.  See: Article 138 and Article 143 of the Executive Penal Code (Dz. U. of 1997 No 90, item 557, as amended). 49 50 36