In view of the above, the NMPT is of the opinion that the guidelines and the measures taken were too general and insufficient. The juvenile educational centres required greater support from the government and the authorities managing and supervising the centres’ operation. Therefore, the Commissioner for Human Rights called on the Minister of Education and Science to pay attention to the situation of juveniles held in juvenile educational centres during the pandemic crisis295. During the pandemic, two systems of isolation were used in the Juvenile Educational Centre in Mszana Dolna. During the school year, when there were more newly arriving juveniles, a so-called quarantine group was established. It used two adjusted rooms normally used by one of the educational groups. Meals were delivered to the group members by the JEC’s staff member. The juveniles were not isolated in their rooms and were in contact with other newly admitted juveniles within the quarantine group. They slept in their bedrooms but spent time together, played games, talked to each other and watched TV. Their body temperature was checked at least twice a day. The staff and the juveniles reported that in some case the temperature was checked more frequently e.g. when someone’s was over 37 degrees Celsius. The juveniles had a computer with access to the internet, and could freely use facebook and the messenger communicator. They had access to e-mail service and a telephone (both the JEC telephone and their private mobile telephones). The juveniles did not go out for a walk during isolation. At least once per hour, the boys were visited by a staff member - an educator, a teacher or a psychologist. The psychologist had spoken to each of them on admission, and offered to speak to them during the isolation period. The boys were not visited by a doctor or a nurse as there is no medical staff employed directly by the JEC. Later, when there were fewer newly admitted juveniles, two separate isolation rooms (with access to a bathroom) were used for them. The boys were not placed in a quarantine group but stayed in isolation rooms by themselves. They had no contact with each other. The rooms in which they stayed had a bed, a table, a chair and a cabinet. The windows had no bars. Only one of the rooms had a computer with internet access. The juveniles emphasized that there was quite a lot of space and that they could exercise easily in their rooms. There was a calling system in the rooms. As in the case of the quarantine group, the isolation period was from 7 to 14 days (usually after one week the juveniles could leave their rooms). However, they did not meet with the rest of the group but had to return to their rooms. The rooms were not monitored. The system of the visits and temperature checks was the same as in the quarantine group. The staff informed that had the number of newly arriving juveniles been larger (at least three), they would have established a quarantine group again. It would also be possible to have both a quarantine group and the isolation rooms operating simultaneously. 295 See: general intervention letter of the Commissioner for Human Rights of 16 November 2020, file ref. no. KMP.573.11.2020. The content of the letter and of the response of the Ministry of National Education is described herein below, in a separate part of the report. 110

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