Report of the Human Rights Defender on the activities of the National Preventive Mechanism in Poland in 2012 visiting team, such behaviour of the personnel is unacceptable and should be considered degrading. Analysing the CCTV recordings, the representatives of the Mechanisms also noticed the inappropriate behaviour of the Police officers who brought a man to the station. In order to change the handcuffs fastening they brought him down and pinned him against the floor with their knees. As a result, the man was lying in the waiting room of the sobering up station on his abdomen for 20 minutes, in the presence of the outsiders. 2. Application of coercive measures The visiting team each time analysed the CCTV recordings from the use of coercive measures. In two sobering-up stations, the representatives of the NPM voiced reservations concerning the method of restraining the patients with straps. In the first of the stations160, the patients’ hand were twisted back and pulled up to shoulder blades, while in the latter161 the patients were put into an uncomfortable position, as they had to lie on their back with outstretched hands and legs. The visiting team were also critical of the fact that the beds for restraining the patients were equipped with handcuffs which is in breach of the binding regulations. According to the employees of the NPM, the said methods of immobilising the patients constituted inhuman treatment that could result in bodily harm. Furthermore, in several stations162 the physical force used during restraining the patients with straps was inadequate to the situation. Pursuant to the case law of the ECHR in Strasbourg, the use of force against persons deprived of liberty, except for cases when it has been made strictly necessary by the patients’ own conduct and is not excessive, is an infringement of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, since it diminishes human dignity. The visiting team also had certain doubts concerning the cases of using coercive measures against persons whose behaviour did not pose any threat to their own life or health or the life or health of other persons. The management of the station163 was reminded each time that the use of coercive measures was regulated in Article 42(1) of the Act on the upbringing in sobriety and counteracting alcoholism. Sobering-up Station in Toruń. Sobering-up Station in Konin. 162 Sobering-up Station in  Zamość, Sobering-up Station in Toruń, Sobering-up Station in Konin, Sobering-up Station in Warsaw. 163 Sobering-up Station in Włocławek, Sobering-up Station in Katowice, Sobering-up Station in Chorzów. 160 161 74