require a court decision to perform a body search of a prisoner were closed and the application was
dismissed on 26 November 2019 (case ref. no. K 5/16)144.
It is worth to note that situations occurred in the past, when a decision to carry out a body search
was not justified from the point of view of security, which has already been pointed out by the European
Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in it judgments regarding Poland.
ECHR: Every day body search of inmates, involving the need to strip down naked,
did not result from any specific security reasons and were not related to suspicions
resulting from inmate’s behaviour. Such a practice must have made the inmate
concerned feel humiliated, depressed and must have caused suffering that exceeded
the unavoidable amount of suffering and deprivation related to imprisonment145.
Domestic legislation applied in practice does not ensure an effective measure for
inmates to appeal against decisions to carry out body search. Due to the lack of such
measure, it is difficult to enforce, across the country, the obligation to have a sufficient
justification for body search or body inspection connected with taking off the clothes
by the inmate146.
Standards applicable to the numbers of forensic psychologists
Since 2016, the NMPT has been emphasizing the need to increase the number of psychologists
employed in penitentiary establishments. In the opinion of the National Mechanism, psychological care
in prisons is not sufficient, and the existing standard (one psychologist per 200 inmates) does not ensure
the effectiveness of psychological support147. Working with so many inmates, a psychologist is unable
to perform his/her work effectively.
This issue was raised by the Commissioner for Human Rights again in his letter to the Director
General of the Prison Service, as described in the chapter "General intervention letters".
144
See: Report of the Commissioner for Human Rights on the activities of the National Mechanism for the
Prevention of Torture in Poland in 2019.
145
Judgment in the case: Świderski versus Poland, of 16 February 2016, complaint no. 5532/10, points 60-61.
146
Judgment in the case: Milka versus Poland, of 15 September 2015, complaint no. 14322/12, points 30 and 48.
147
Order No. 19/16 of the Director General of the Prison Service of 14 April 2016 on the detailed rules of conduct
and organization of penitentiary work and on the scopes of activities of officers and employees of penitentiary and
therapeutic units and penitentiary wards, point 3(2).
64
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