Part I
meeting held on 9 November 2016 at the Centre for Education Development for representatives of the Ministry of National Education, the Centre
for Education Development, the Office of the Ombudsman for Children, the
Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights and directors of youth care
centres, a working group was established for developing a uniform catalogue
of adverse events, including their descriptions, recording system and monitoring system. The group includes representatives of the NMPT.
The second problem highlighted by the Commissioner was the need to
determine, in a relevant parliamentary act, the procedures to be followed by
personnel in the area of supervision over the content of juvenile residents’
correspondence. In his general intervention to the Minister of Justice of 18
August 201667, the CHR indicated inconsistencies in the practices used in
this area by staff members of establishments for juveniles (juvenile detention
centres, juvenile shelters, youth care centres), revealed during the NMPT
visits. In some establishments, incoming correspondence is opened by a supervising officer in the presence of the juvenile resident to check its contents,
in others it is opened without the presence of the juvenile resident.
The Commissioner pointed out that the current provision of Article 66(3)
of the Act of 26 October 1982 on juvenile delinquency proceedings68 (hereinafter referred to as the AJP) provides only for the juveniles’ right to maintain
contacts with the outside world by means of correspondence and indicates
reasons for which this right may be restricted. However, the legislator did not
refer to the issue of supervision over correspondence, which constitutes, in
the Commissioner’s opinion, an inherent element of exercising this right. The
existing gap in the regulations gives the supervising officers actual freedom
in supervising the content of correspondence, which creates a risk of abusing their powers in this area and reading juvenile residents’ correspondence
without their presence. The current regulation thus limits the protection of
the right to correspondence of juvenile residents of youth care centres and
juvenile rehabilitation facilities, compared to the situation of prisoners69.
In his reply of 13 September 2016, the Undersecretary of State in the
Ministry of Justice informed the Commissioner that the issue would be analysed and taken into account in the course of legislative works on amending
the AJP70.
69
70
67
68
Cf. CHR’s general intervention to the Minister of Justice of 18.08.2016, ref. no. KMP.573.12.2016.
Dz. U. of 2014, item 382 as amended.
Cf. Article 242(6) of the Executive Penal Code.
Reply of the Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of Justice of 13.09.2016, ref. no.KMP.573.12.2016.
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