juveniles deprived of their liberty, many of whom may have behavioural problems related to emotional deprivation or a lack of social skills. The CPT also wishes to stress that a juvenile's contact with the outside world should never be restricted or denied as a disciplinary measure. United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty. General Assembly resolution 45/113 Principle 59 Juveniles should be allowed to communicate with their families, friends and other persons or representatives of reputable outside organizations, to leave detention facilities for a visit to their home and family and to receive special permission to leave the detention facility for educational, vocational or other important reasons. Principle 60 Every juvenile should have the right to receive regular and frequent visits, in principle once a week and not less than once a month, in circumstances that respect the need of the juvenile for privacy, contact and unrestricted communication with the family and the defence counsel. Principle 61 Every juvenile should have the right to communicate in writing or by telephone at least twice a week with the person of his or her choice, unless legally restricted, and should be assisted as necessary in order effectively to enjoy this right. Every juvenile should have the right to receive correspondence. Act on Juvenile Delinquency Proceedings Art. 66 § 3. Correspondence of the juvenile placed in the establishment, detention centre or juvenile shelter referred to in § 1, except for correspondence with the state and selfgovernment authorities, in particular with the Human Rights Defender and the Ombudsman for Children and the authorities designated pursuant to international agreements relating to the protection of human rights ratified by way of the act by the Republic of Poland, may be controlled by the director of the detention centre, establishment or shelter or by an authorized educational employee, only in cases of justified suspicion that this correspondence contains the contents threatening the legal order, the safety of the detention centre, establishment or shelter, principles of public morality or likely to have an adverse effect on the course of the ongoing proceedings or social reintegration of the juvenile. Should such the contents be found, correspondence is not delivered and both the juvenile and the family court executing the judicial decision are informed of it, with stating the reasons for such a decision. The juvenile is instructed of the right to lodge a complaint, referred to in article 38. Retained correspondence shall be included in the juvenile's personal files. § 4. The director of the detention centre, establishment or shelter, referred to in § 1, may restrict or prohibit the contacts of the juvenile with people outside the detention centre, establishment or shelter only if this contact posed a threat to the legal order, the safety of the detention centre, establishment or shelter or could adversely affect the course of the ongoing proceedings or social reintegration of the juvenile. An important guarantee of the protection against bad treatment is the properly exercised right of the juveniles to have contact with the outside world. Here, it should be stressed that the administration of this type of establishments is obliged to protect the family ties of the juveniles. In the majority of the visited juvenile detention centres, the juveniles were allowed to see the closest family without any restrictions. During the interviews, the juveniles did not report any problems regarding those visits. However, alarming signals appeared, pointing out to the fact that the right of the juveniles to have contact with the outside world may be violated. This refers to, inter alia, the reservations made by the juveniles in the course of discussions with the National Preventive Mechanism members at JDC in Białystok and JDC in Laskowiec.

Select target paragraph3

Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents