Report of the Human Rights Defender on the activities of the National Preventive Mechanism in Poland in 2014 9. Follow-up visits Authorities of the establishments visited by the representatives of the NPM must take a position with regard to recommendations contained in the visit report. The information thus obtained is used by the representatives of the NPM to verify to what degree their recommendations were complied with. If the authorities of the visited establishment find any such recommendation to be illegitimate, the issue is further discussed beyond the arguments put forward in the report to make these authorities comply with the recommendation and to determine a possible way of doing so that suits both parties. Constructive dialogue with the authorities is not the only tool at the disposal of the representatives of the NPM. Follow-up visits are another form of monitoring how and to what extent their recommendations were fulfilled. During them, information communicated to employees of the Office of the Human Rights Defender is brought face to face with the realities on the ground. In this way, the representatives of the Mechanism verify on the spot whether recommended actions were undertaken or improper practices – eliminated, and whether the recommendation should be reiterated or changed due to identified irregularities. Furthermore, during their follow-up visits, the representatives of the NPM interview on-site personnel and persons deprived of their liberty whether they suffered any sanctions and consequences on the part of their authorities as a result of giving consent to being interviewed by the visitors (this is ensured under Article 21(1) of the OPCAT). 9.1. Sobering-up stations 1. Treatment During the visits, the following recommendations about treatment were voiced, among others: coercive measures must be used legitimately and properly, persons against whom a coercive measure is applied must be subject to sufficiently frequent checks. The employees of the OHRD also noted that the use of coercive measures may not lead to degrading or inhuman treatment. It was further recommended that appropriate conditions be ensured to guarantee intimacy where such a need can be seen and that patients not be forced to wear replacement clothing if not necessary. It was also found necessary to recommend that documentation be kept correctly, especially coercive action records. During their revisit, the representatives of the Mechanism found that the recommendations made during the visit were largely implemented, except for re- 64