Places visited by the National Preventive Mechanism in 2011 here to CPT recommendation which reads: There is arguably no better guarantee against the ill-treatment of a person deprived of his liberty than a properly trained police or prison officer (…). Considerable emphasis should be placed on developing interpersonal communication skills (…). Skilled officers will be able to carry out successfully their duties without having recourse to ill-treatment and to cope with the presence of fundamental safeguards for detainees and prisoners101. An analysis of the observations made by the Mechanism in the area in question has shown that in the significant majority of visited PDRs, in-service training consisted in participation of their staff in courses on legal provisions applicable to such establishments. Taking into account the fact that officers on duty in PDRs are responsible for ensuring safety to detainees staying there, in particular to persons brought to sober up, and that this task is of particular importance due to the lack of medical personnel, the National Preventive Mechanism has always checked if the staff of visited PDRs participated in premedical first aid trainings. Recommendations concerning the need to carry out trainings for PDR personnel were issued for 10 visited establishments102. The managements of individual Police units approved of the NPM’s recommendations concerning trainings for PDR staff, and informed the Mechanism about the conducted trainings or the dates of planned trainings. Following the visit, the National Preventive Mechanism recommended to: • Train PDR staff in premedical first aid and in interpersonal communication. f) Living conditions The living conditions in the visited rooms within the Police organisational units for detained persons or persons brought to sober up varied. In the opinion of the Mechanism, the general picture of this type of detention places is still unsatisfactory103. Cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment can take various forms, many of which are unintentional, but result from organisational mistakes and insufficient funds. The ban on such treatment is absolute; therefore, no person under any form of detention or imprisonment shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. No circumstance whatever may be invoked as a justification for torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment104. The Mechanism stresses that the term “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” should be interpreted in such a way as to ensure the widest possible protection against abuse both physical and mental in nature, including the holding of detained or imprisoned persons in conditions  See: paras. 59 and 60 of the 2nd General Report concerning the training of law enforcement personnel [CPT/Inf (92) 3].  PDRs: Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Zawiercie, Katowice, Grudziądz, Sławno, Słupsk, Drawsko Pomorskie, Gorzów Wlkp., Lublin, Sanok. 103  See page 31 of the Report of the Human Rights Defender on the activities of NPM in 2010, in: Biuletyn RPO, Źródła 2011, No 3. 104  Rule 6 of the Resolution of UN General Assembly No 43/173 of 9 December 1988. 101 102 61