CPT calls on the Polish authorities to take steps in order to develop programmes of
activities for remand prisoners and long-term prisoners. The aim should be to ensure
that all prisoners are able to spend a reasonable part of the day outside their cells,
engaged in purposeful activities of a varied nature (work, preferably with vocational
value; education; sport; etc.) 137.
SPT: Programmes of activities for inmates play an important role in ensuring security
and wellbeing for themselves and for prison officers. Forced inactivity increases
tensions in the prison and may have serious consequences to inmates’ health and
wellbeing, as well as to their future re-integration with the society after leaving the
prison. Total inactivity forced on prisoners in the long term may be considered a
manifestation of inhuman treatment138.
SPT recommended that the State Party takes measures aimed at further increasing the
possibilities of work performance by prisoners and at ensuring that paid work is
available for all prisoners, including those in remand prisons, while making sure that
no inmate is forced to work139.
The issue of medical examinations of prisoners in penitentiary establishments. The absence of
procedures in cases of reported torture and the related inappropriate methods of registering
injuries
Not every person placed in a penitentiary establishment undergoes a medical examination. Only
those „newly” detained people are examined; inmates who are moved between penitentiary
establishments are not. Although they are initially interviewed by a nurse who refers them to a doctor if
necessary, there is no provision for obligatory physical examination of all first time detainees, including
body examination.
137
CPT report on the visit to Poland, CPT/Inf (2014) 21, para. 43; CPT report on the visit to Poland, CPT/Inf
(2018) 30, para. 73.
138
The SPT report on the visit to Benin, CAT/OP/BEN/1, para. 273.
139
The SPT report on the visit to Poland, CAT/OP/POL/ROSP/1, para. 87.
61
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