Report of the Commissioner for Human Rights on the activities of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture in Poland in 2017 Under the regulations that were in force until the end of December 2017, the court was not even required to hold a hearing of the legally incapacitated person concerned. Such a person, during his/her stay at the SCH, had no possibility to seek verification of the need for his/ her further stay there, even in the case of his/her health improvement or the availability of a person willing to provide support to him/her within the local community. On 1 January 2018, the situation of legally incapacitated persons radically improved! Any person placed in an SCH, including a legally incapacitated person, may apply to a guardianship court for changing its ruling on the person’s placement in the home (Article 41 of the AMHP). Also, a person who does not consent to staying in the home any longer, may apply to the guardianship court for the annulment of its ruling on the person’s placement there. The amended act has also introduced the obligation for the court to hold a hearing of the legally incapacitated person to be placed in a psychiatric hospital or an SCH. Furthermore, in order to ensure extended full-scope legal protection of persons with mental disorders or intellectual disabilities, for any person admitted to an SCH or a psychiatric hospital without his/her consent the court is required to appoint (instead of “may appoint”, as was worded in the previous regulations), ex-officio and without any request, a lawyer to monitor the person’s situation. If a person is placed in an SCH without his/her consent but with the consent of his/ her legal representative, a ruling of the guardianship court is required. At least once per six months, periodic examinations of the person’s mental health have to be carried out. 52