another establishment, in one of the wards, the placement of female patients “persistently breaking regulations” (e.g. attempts to deliver letters outside, evading activities, provocative behaviour towards male ward patients) in a closed observation room, under the “education and therapeutic regime” was observed. In consequence, such practice is identical with the application of a coercive measure in the form of isolation. However, it results from the information provided by the personnel, that placement in an observation room was not treated as the abovementioned coercive measure. Therefore, this practice is not recorded and subject to control by the director of the establishment in a way that would be compliant with the law. Isolation was applied as punishment (Regional Psychiatric Hospital in Lubiąż). Therefore, the representatives of the National Preventive Mechanism addressed the District Prosecutor’s Office in Wołów with the request to examine the case related to the abuse of rights by the Hospital personnel. The prosecutor’s office closed the investigation in the subjective case due to the lack of features of a prohibited act specified in Article 231(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. It was found that it could not be assumed that the practice of applying coercive measures in the form of isolation in the observation room was perceived as a form of treatment and rehabilitation process, instead of a coercive measure. However, findings of the National Preventive Mechanism and explanations of the unit director indicate otherwise. It results from the substantiation concerning the closing of the investigation that the Director of the Hospital issued an absolute ban on practising “the placement of persons breaking the regulations of the second ward in a separate room (…) as methods of enforcing discipline”. d) Admissions without the patient’s consent and use of security measures 8th General Report [CPT/Inf (98) 12] 41 Patients should, as a matter of principle, be placed in a position to give their free and informed consent to treatment. The admission of a person to a psychiatric establishment on an involuntary basis should not be construed as authorising treatment without his consent. It follows that every competent patient, whether voluntary or involuntary, should be given the opportunity to refuse treatment or any other medical intervention. Any derogation from this fundamental principle should be based upon law and only relate to clearly and strictly defined exceptional circumstances. Of course, consent to treatment can only be qualified as free and informed if it is based on full, accurate and comprehensible information about the patient's condition and the treatment proposed; to describe ECT as "sleep therapy" is an example of less than full and accurate information about the treatment concerned. Consequently, all patients should be provided systematically with relevant information about their condition and the treatment which it is proposed to prescribe for them. Relevant information (results, etc.) should also be provided following treatment. 51 On account of their vulnerability, the mentally ill and mentally handicapped warrant much attention in order to prevent any form of conduct - or avoid any omission - contrary to their well-being. It follows that involuntary placement in a psychiatric establishment should always be surrounded by appropriate safeguards. Act of 19 August 1994 on the protection of mental health (Dz.U. No 111, item 535, as amended) Article 21(1) A person whose conduct indicates that due to mental disorders they can pose