the Commissioner's representatives can actually carry out supervision activities during deportation operations. In response, the Minister informed29 that in 2019 an evaluation mission regarding deportations from Poland was held. The Polish side was evaluated positively. It was pointed out, however, that one of the elements to be strengthened was the monitoring of the enforcement of decisions on deportation of foreign citizens. In view of the above and of the Commissioner’s request to amend the regulations on the participation of observers in deportation operations, the Ministry announced that already in 2020, the Border Guard would take steps to amend the regulations on the subject in question. Possibilities of using additional direct coercion measures in the form of objects intended to incapacitate people using electricity30 The Commissioner sent a general intervention letter to the Prime Minister in connection with the amendment of the provisions of the Act on the Prison Service. As a result of the amendment, penitentiary facilities’ personnel have been permitted to use additional direct coercion measures in the form of objects intended to incapacitate people using electricity. The Commissioner indicated his objections regarding the amendments already at the stage of the legislative works. Unfortunately, the objections were not taken into account. The very timing of introducing the amendments, as well as the grounds for them, raise serious doubts. The solution has been introduced as a permanent one although it was raised it was required in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic and situations when tasks need to be performed by a reduced number of personnel. Therefore, the powers granted to the Prison Service are not, in fact, aimed at preventing and combating COVID-19, but to make it possible to use the new direct coercion measures, introduced under the guise of fighting the effects of COVID-19. The Commissioner is also concerned about the fact that before the introduction of the amendment, there had been no true debate about it and about the fact that its purpose was to sole staffing problems in the Prison Service. The Commissioner pointed out that electric weapons can also be used as a form of torture, which has been confirmed by binding court judgments. It should also be mentioned that the risk of torture increases in situations of stricter isolation, where contact with the outside world is limited or prohibited for security reasons, and the monitoring or supervision institutions have limited possibilities of action. In the opinion of the Commissioner, granting officers of the Prison Service the right to use direct coercion in the form of electric weapons has been ungrounded. Such weapons should not be part of the equipment of penitentiary officers. All suggestions concerning the subject should be discussed without haste, as part of public consultations and expert discussions. 29 Letter of 17 July 2020. 30 General intervention of the CHR to the Prime Minister, of 29 April 2020, no.KMP.571.3.2020. 26