Report of the HRD on the activities of the National Preventive Mechanism in Poland in 2011 General informed that in order to implement the recommendations of the Defender, the phenomenon had been promptly examined in all penitentiary establishments, and persons responsible had been advised on how to solve the problem. The Director General also stressed that the main objective of all activities of the Prison Service thus far (i.a. placing inmates in patient rooms, cells in wards for dangerous prisoners, in transition cells) had been to guarantee the statutory rights to 3 m² of living space in a cell for each prisoner. The Director also ensured that the said phenomena would be regularly monitored by the Central Board of Prison Service. In October 2011, a meeting on implementation of the European Court of Human Rights’ judgments by Poland took place in the Prison in Radom, attended by the Ministry of Justice and the Central Board of Prison Service. Representatives of the Council of Europe invited a representative of the NPM to participate in the meeting. As a result of the conference, on 16 November 2011 the Human Rights Defender sent a letter33 to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in which she presented her position on the Report of the Polish Government on measures taken to implement the judgment of the European Court for Human Rights in the case of Orchowski and Sikorski vs. Poland34. The findings made during the visits by the NPM employees often revealed that overcrowding was eliminated only in statistical terms. This has been achieved by following many improper practices, such as adaptation of recreation rooms for living purposes, accommodating inmates in patient rooms, isolation cells and transition cells for periods exceeding the time limit defined by the law (14 days), in prison blocks subject to strict discipline and special safeguards and intended for detainees posing serious threat for the society or for the security in prison (the so-called “dangerous” detainees) or placing together detainees classified to various groups. Such activities result in unjustified violation of the rights of detainees, but also allow to conceal the actual overcrowding of the establishments35. Measures required under the relevant legal provisions have not been undertaken. Heads of the visited establishments are encouraged to apply such practices by the recommendations of Central Board of Prison Service, obliging them to use all the available space in their establishment to reduce overcrowding. The current situation in Polish penitentiary establishments may lead to mass postponement of penalties of up to 2 years of imprisonment. In the opinion of the Defender, the solution to the problem would be to change penal policy so that the judges would more often adjudicate alternative means of punishment than custodial sentences.  RPO-R-080-12/11.  Complaint No 17885/04. 35  Pursuant to the Ordinance of the Minister of Justice of 25 November 2009 on the procedure to be followed by competent authorities when the number of detainees in prisons or pre-trial detention centres in the entire country exceeds the total capacity of those establishments (Dz. U. No 2002, item 1564), the total capacity of the establishments shall not include accommodation in hospital wards, in blocks for the so-called “dangerous” detainees, in isolation cells, in medical centres for prisoners and in mother and child centres, as well as places where inmates are accommodated temporarily, i.e. transition cells. 33 34 30