CAT/OP/POL/CNPMRO/1 defence was caused by the need to protect his inalienable dignity, and of the Mechanism’s obligation to intervene in any situation in which one’s dignity is violated. There were also comments calling for penalizing the man extrajudicially, even to death. 27. It should also be noted that one of the letters that was of key importance from the point of view of guaranteed protection against torture of persons deprived of liberty, and was sent to the Minister of Justice in April 20171, is still remaining without a reply, despite many reminders, including the Polish Prime Minister’s letter sent to the competent minister and requesting him to respond. 28. Nevertheless, the Mechanism takes steps to convince members of the Polish Parliament that it plays an important role in defending the rights of persons deprived of their liberty. In particular, those steps include inviting representatives of the Parliament to take part in inspection visits carried out by the NMPT. This postulate was included in the NMPT’s strategy for 2019-2023 as an instrument for implementing actions in one of the strategic areas entitled The NMPT’s increased participation in the public debate on torture, in order to build the social culture of no tolerance of torture. Comments on the recommendation(s) contained in paragraph 29 29. The NMPT is aware that its mandate does not cover all places where people are deprived of their liberty in Poland. At present, the number of establishments that are subject to regular monitoring exceeds 3000. The fact that certain places of deprivation of liberty remain outside the Mechanism’s monitoring although they meet the criteria defined in Article of the OPCAT results only from the funds insufficient for the full-scope implementation of the Mechanism’s mandate. The currently visited places include: penitentiary establishments, rooms for persons detained by the Police, the Border Guard and the Military Police, police stations, police emergency centres for children, youth care centres, shelters for minors, youth correctional facilities, psychiatric hospitals, facilities providing 24-hour care to those in need, social care homes, nursing homes, sobering-up stations, closed centres and detention centres for migrants. The mechanism gradually seeks to extend its supervision to over new types of places of detention. In 2017, we began visits to facilities providing 24-hour care to those in need and to nursing homes. In 2018, the monitoring covered also police stations. In addition to visits conducted during business hours of visited places’ managers, the Mechanism is going to visit detention places also during evenings. 30. Further places of deprivation of liberty will be covered by the Mechanism’s monitoring when new members are employed within the Team. From the point of view of comprehensive protection of persons deprived of liberty against torture, the Mechanism should have 25 staff members. This number would allow the development of specializations according to individual groups of people held in detention (minors, senior persons, migrants, people with disabilities, and people with mental disorders). Comments on the recommendation(s) contained in paragraph 31 31. The mechanism has developed its strategy for 2019-2023, according to which, after 11 years of activities consisting mainly in preventive visits, the focus is on educating the society. The desired effect of such actions should be the development of the social culture of no acceptance for torture. Education as an element of the Mechanism’s work has been strengthened since 2016 when regional debates were held in capital cities of the 16 provinces [voivodeships] of the country. The events were addressed to people whose professional work relates to rights of people deprived of their liberty. The series of the meetings ended in 2018. 32. At the end of 2018, the social campaign entitled State without torture was launched. Its main pillar is formed by educational activities of the NMPT. 1 8 The letter pointed to the need for thorough legislative changes that would introduce the main pillars of protection of persons deprived of their liberty against torture: the inclusion of the crime of torture in the Polish Penal Code; the conducting of medical examinations of all detainees; the access to a lawyer from the time when the person is detained; the possibility for a detainee to independently inform his/her relatives of the fact of his/her detention.