Psychiatric hospitals In § 54 of its 8th General Report, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture stated that for hospital patients the maintenance of contact with the outside world is essential, not only for the prevention of ill-treatment but also from a therapeutic standpoint230. The lack of leaves may hamper or even prevent appropriate diagnosis and therapy of detained patients. The refusal to grant the leaves to patients for important events, such as death of a relative, wedding, etc., violates the principles of therapeutic procedure, may deteriorate the mental condition of the patient and has an adverse impact on the therapy. The patients must be granted leaves before the final completion of the hospitalization (which sometimes lasts a very long time) and discharge from the hospital. This is necessary to assess the psychosocial functioning of the patient in the community where the patient will live after being discharged from hospital. The lack of such a  possibility violates basic principles of environmental psychiatry as the optimal form of psychiatric treatment (bringing the greatest therapeutic and rehabilitation benefits). In the case of somatic health problems in hospitalized patients which require diagnosis or treatment in health care centres other than hospital (e.g. necessary hospitalization at the internal medicine ward for diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases), the responsible persons (heads of wards, management of the hospital) may be subject to legal liability (from the judiciary) and, in the case of failing to perform such actions, to professional liability and civil lawsuits from patients or persons acting on behalf of patients. The Human Rights Defender submitted a request to the Minister of Justice to undertake legislative initiatives to address the problem.231 3. Lack of coherent systemic procedures allowing to place detained patients in social care centres. The representatives of the National Preventive Mechanism pointed to the fact that some patients stay in psychiatric hospitals for years which means that care for them must be provided, while there is a deficit of places in social care centres. The issue was also raised by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture which had found, in a number of countries, that patients whose mental state no longer required them to be detained in a psychiatric establishment nevertheless [CPT/Inf (98) 12]. See: Motion of 6 March 2013, RPO-726171-V-13/GH. In the response of 17 May 2013, the Minister of Justice agreed with the Human Rights Defender on the need to introduce relevant legal solutions in an act. The issue will probably be regulated as part of the more extensive amendment of the Executive Penal Code planned by the Minster of Justice, following consultation with psychiatrists. See: http://www.sprawy-generalne.brpo.gov.pl/szczegoly.php?pismo=1706559 230 231 91