governments and universities. Local media representatives were also invited to take part in the debates. Especially for them, information was prepared on the results of the NMPT’s visits conducted in the 2 years preceding the meeting, in places of detention located in a given voivodeship. The debates provided a platform for the exchange of experience in the cooperation of heads of the detention places with the NMPT in the field of protecting the rights of persons deprived of their liberty. They also aimed to provide an insight into the systemic problems identified during the preventive visits to places of detention, and to highlight the role of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture as a partner for the heads of the visited establishments in building the culture of non-acceptance of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. On behalf of the CHR Office the debates were attended by: Deputy Commissioner for Human Rights Hanna Machińska, Ph.D.; Director of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture Justyna Lewandowska, her deputy Przemysław Kazimirski who moderated all of the debates, as well as Klaudia Kamińska and Marcin Kusy. The participants also included the invited speakers - members of the NMPT Expert Committee: Lidia Olejnik in Łódź, and attorney Piotr Sendecki in Kielce. The last debate that concluded the whole series of the events was held at the Forensic Psychiatry Clinic in Warsaw. It was attended by Commissioner for Human Rights Adam Bodnar, Ph.D.; Prof. Zbigniew Lasocik (D.Sc.) who, in the period 2007-2012, was a member of the UN Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture (SPT) in Geneva; and Prof. Janusz Heitzman, M.D., Director of the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology in Warsaw. This sharing of opinions is very important to us. We are not another “special entity” that comes with a sudden unexpected inspection. We want to have a discussion with you about the standards and the need for meeting them. Also, thanks to the information provided by you, we intend to directly influence the legislator. Commissioner for Human Rights Adam Bodnar, Ph.D. 14 PART II – how does the NMPT work?