and outside the context of the prison system, including the possibility to have confidential access to an appropriate authority. The CPT attaches particular importance to regular visits to each prison establishment by an independent body (e.g. a Board of visitors or supervisory judge) possessing powers to hear (and if necessary take action upon) complaints from prisoners and to inspect the establishment's premises. Such bodies can inter alia play an important role in bridging differences that arise between prison management and a given prisoner or prisoners in general. Executive Penal Code (Dz.U. of 1997, No 90, item 557, as amended) Article 6. (1) A convict may file applications to initiate proceedings before the court and take part therein as a party, as well as lodge complaints against decisions issued in executive proceedings, unless the law provides otherwise. § 2. A convict may file applications, complaints and requests to decision executing bodies. Article 102. A convict has the right to, in particular: (…) 10) file applications, complaints and requests to bodies competent for their examination and present them, without the presence of third persons, to the penitentiary unit administration, directors of Prison Service organisational units, a penitentiary judge, a prosecutor or the Human Rights Defender. During the visits of the National Preventive Mechanism, the persons conducting the visits positively assessed the possibility to lodge complaints and file applications to the director of the establishment and other competent authorities by prisoners. The vast majority of complaints in visited penitentiary establishments concerned inappropriate medical care and living conditions. The remaining ones concerned the treatment by Prison Service officers, overcrowding and dealing with correspondence. 6. Treatment of persons deprived of liberty and application of coercive measures European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms [OJ 1993, No 61, item 284] Art. 3. Nobody can be subject to torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment The UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT) [Dz.U. of 1989, No 63, item 378] Article 1. For the purposes of this Convention, torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.This term does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent to or incidental to lawful sanctions. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners [New York 1984] Rule 33 Instruments of restraint, such as: handcuffs, chains, irons and strait-jackets, shall never be applied as a punishment. Furthermore, chains or irons shall not be used as restraints. Other instruments of restraint shall not be used except in the following circumstances: (a) as a precaution against escape during a transfer, provided that they shall be removed when the prisoner appears before a judicial or administrative authority;