• Penitentiary establishments in the times of the COVID-19 pandemic In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, penitentiary establishments became much more enclosed. The epidemiological situation throughout the country has caused significant changes in their functioning, such as suspension of visits, limited access by third parties to penitentiary establishments, limited offer of educational and recreational activities or changes in the possibilities of participation in them, or reorganization of medical care. The introduced restrictions brought about the risk of violation of prisoners’ rights and of their ill-treatment. They also made it almost impossible for the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture to exercise its mandate in the to-date form i.e. through on-site visits. To ensure the continuity of the exercise of its mandate, the National Mechanism decided to remotely monitor the situation in penitentiary establishments. This included: analysis of media reports on infections in penitentiary establishments, exchange of correspondence with the Ministry of Justice196, Director General of the Prison Service197 and directors of selected prisons and remand prisons198, and remote visits with the use of the Skype communicator. Between 5 May and 17 August 2020, the National Mechanism conducted online visits to 20 establishments across the country, which report to the Prison Service199. The data included in this 196 Letters to the Deputy Minister of Justice of 16 April 2020 and 30 April 2020 (KMP.071.4.2020 regarding the algorithms for the operation of the Prison Service during the coronavirus pandemic and the effects of their introduction. Until the date of this report, no reply has been received by the CHR Office from the Ministry of Justice; Letter of the Deputy Minister of Justice to the Commissioner for Human Rights of 1 April 2020 (DWOiPII.53.1.2020) regarding ongoing preparations of penitentiary establishments for the risk related to the coronavirus pandemic). 197 Letter to the Director General of the Prison Service of 12 March 2020 (KMP.071.4.2020) regarding penitentiary establishments’ preparations for the coronavirus pandemic: procedures introduced, means of personal protection, restrictions on the rights of prisoners, etc.). Reply of 20 March 2020 (regarding the developed algorithms to be used); Letter to Director General of the Prison Service of 10 April 2020 (KMP.071.4.2020) regarding the possibility of conducting the NMPT visits via Skype and presenting the SPT and CPT international standards regarding places of detention during a pandemic). Response of 21 April 2020 (BP.414.101.2020) regarding consent to online visits). Letter to the Director of the remand prison in Grójec, of 10 November 2020 (KMP.071.8.2020) regarding the number of infections diagnosed in the establishment). Reply of 12/10/2020 (S/P.4003.19.2020.AB/8580); Letter to the Director of the prison in Opole Lubelskie of 16 November 2020 (KMP.071.8.2020) regarding the number of infections diagnosed in the establishment). Reply of 24 November 2020 (S/P.070.60.2020.JW); Letter to the Director of the prison in I��awa of 16 November 2020 (KMP.071.8.2020) regarding the number of infections diagnosed in the establishment). Response of 25 November 2020 (S/P.414.10.2020.JP). 198 The NMPT conducted online visits to the remand prisons in: Łódź (KMP.571.4.2020), Warszawa-Białołęka (KMP.571.5.2020), Kraków (KMP.571.9.2020), Wrocław (KMP.571.11.2020), Międzyrzecz (KMP 571.16.2020) and Białystok (KMP.571.17.2020) and to prisons in: Potulice (KMP.571.8.2020), Sztum (KMP.571.10.2020), Grudziądz – prison no. 1 (KMP.571.12.2020), Krzywaniec (KMP.571.13.2020), Chełm (KMP.571.14.2020), Rzeszów (KMP.571.15.2020), Nysa (KMP.571.11.2020), Jastrzębie-Zdrój (KMP.571.20.2020), Czarne (KMP.571.21.2020), Barczewo (KMP.571.22.2020), Głogów (KMP.571.23.2020), Bydgoszcz-Fordon (KMP.571.24.2020), Czerwony Bór (KMP.571.25.2020) and Łupków (KMP.571.26.2020). 199 79