Report of the Human Rights Defender on the activities of the National Preventive Mechanism in Poland in 2012
bers frequently depended on the score obtained under the rehabilitation system or
on the degree of socialisation, and thus was treated as a privilege of the juveniles,
which they could lose if they infringed the regulations. Moreover, in some establishments the ban on contacts with friends and even family was explicitly included
in the catalogue of sanctions98.
The visiting team stressed that a juvenile should have the right to maintain
contacts with both his/her family and people from outside the establishment as
a rule. The only reasons for restricting or prohibiting contacts of a juvenile with
people outside the establishment were stipulated in the abovementioned provision
and concern only cases when such contact would pose a threat to the legal order
or safety of the establishment, or could adversely affect the course of the ongoing
proceedings or social reintegration of the juvenile. In such case, the director of the
establishment is obliged to promptly notify the juvenile and the relevant family
court about the reasons of his decision. The court may overrule the decision made
by the director. Therefore, restricting contacts of the juveniles with their family or
their peers, e.g. by not allowing them to make phone calls or receive correspondence
from their friends, should also be deemed unacceptable.
The NPM employees also recommended that juveniles should have ensured
the intimacy allowing them to speak freely during visits and phone calls, i.e. that
the right to privacy of the juveniles be respected. This concerns situations where
a juvenile was forced to make phone calls within the hearing range of the tutor or
when the visits by his/her parents took place in the presence of an employee of the
establishment99.
6. Educational, therapeutic, cultural and educational measures
The visiting team paid attention to the execution of the right of juveniles to
daily outdoor activities. Although the said right is provided for in the national
legislation100, in several centres juveniles reported that they cannot go to the yard
every day101. They explained that it depended on the tutor and on the number of
interested juveniles. Each time the NPM representatives stressed that the personnel of an establishment had to ensure that the juveniles may spend some time
Youth Care Centre in Cerekwica, Youth Sociotherapy Centre in Dobrodzień, Youth Care Centre in
Sobótka.
99
Youth Care Centre in Brzeg Dolny, Youth Care Centre in Cerekwica.
100
Cf. Art. 17 of the Ordinance of the Minister of National Education of 12 May 2011 on types and
detailed rules of operation of public establishments, on living conditions of children and juveniles in
these establishments, and on the amount and rules of payment by parents (Dz. U. No 109, item 631).
101
Youth Care Centre in Brzeg Dolny, Youth Care Centre in Cerekwica, Youth Sociotherapy Centre in
Dobrodzień, Youth Care Centre in Trzciniec.
98
50
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