Report of the Human Rights Defender on the activities of the National Preventive Mechanism in Poland in 2013 the standards concerning the furnishings which are laid down in Table 13 Annex 3 to the Ordinance of the Minister of Justice of 17 October 2003 on the living conditions of inmates in prisons and pre-trial detention centres80. 2.3.8. Work In 2013, the Defender filed a request to the Minister of Justice to undertake a legislative initiative aimed at eliminating the restriction on payment of allowances for increased costs of employment of persons deprived of liberty only to entrepreneurs, since the regulations in place allow for employment of such persons also by other entities, such as non-governmental organisations. The current wording of the said regulation raises doubts as to its compliance with the constitutional principle of equality. It seems that the entities other than enterprises, which employ persons deprived of liberty, are discriminated in terms of obtaining the allowance. The Minister did not agree, stating that entities other than entrepreneurs may apply for a loan or a grant from the Fund for Occupational Activation of Convicts and Development of Prison Industrial Workshops. Therefore, none of the entities is discriminated against. The Defender did not fully accept the presented arguments and asked non-governmental organisations interested in employing persons deprived of liberty to present their opinion on the issue and requested the General Director of Prison Service to provide information about the use of resources from the said fund in 2012 and 2013. The Defender will decide about the further course of action after receiving and analysing the requested information. 3. Centres for juveniles Necessity to draw up a new Act on juvenile delinquency proceedings81 In the opinion of representatives of the National Preventive Mechanism, the Act on juvenile delinquency proceedings, despite another amendment in 2013,82 still does not match the current level of legal protection due to juveniles and re Dz. U. No 186, item 1820. The Ministry of Justice agrees with this postulate in principle, but also points to certain problems, among others that the Act on juvenile delinquency proceedings is subject to the competence of five ministries. See: letter of 27 February 2014: http://www.rpo.gov.pl/pl/content/raport-rpo-zdzia%C5%82alno%C5%9Bci-w-polsce-kmp-w-roku-2012-0 82 Act of 30 August 2013 amending the Act on juvenile delinquency proceedings and certain other acts (Dz. U. of 2013, item 1165). 80 81 39