Report of the Human Rights Defender on the activities of the National Preventive Mechanism in Poland in 2014 2.3. Good practices (enable contact via Skype) The representatives of the National Preventive Mechanism highly appreciate possibilities of maintaining additional contacts by convicts with their family and friends via Skype – a peer-to-peer application. Since April 2014, a programme to introduce this additional form of contact with the outside world has been implemented on a pilot basis at more than a dozen penitentiary establishments and is now available at all establishments. Under the programme, preference regarding the use of Skype is given to foreigners staying at Polish penitentiary establishments and those whose families reside in Poland or abroad at a distance which prevents direct contact with inmates. As this form of communication is highly functional, the representatives of the NPM support its development so as to make it available for groups of convicts other than those specified. 2.4. Areas requiring improvement 1. Treatment Just like last year, the representatives of the National Preventive Mechanism received signals from prisoners in four penitentiary establishments40 indicating violations of their bodily integrity by Prison Service officers. In one of them, remand prisoners and juvenile prisoners informed OHRD employees during the interviews of violations of bodily integrity by wards. None of the inmates, however, decided to make an official complaint or a notification of a suspicion of a crime by PS officers. In another visited establishment, the representatives of the NPM received information from one of the prisoners who claimed to be beaten by a ward in a day room. Moreover, the inmate added that the officer covered him with a mattress not to leave traces of beating. At the request of the convict, the Deputy Human Rights Defender filed a notification of a suspicion of a crime with a relevant local prosecution unit. The prosecutor’s office refused to initiate investigation into the submitted notification41. In the latter two cases, allegations of violation of bodily integrity were related to the situation where claimants were unable to prove the allegations to the Human Rights Defender to make her submit notifications of a suspicion of a crime by PS officers. In the referred situations, the representatives of the Mechanism presented these worrying signals, which had been received from 40 41 PTDC in Łódź, Pr No 1 in Strzelce Opolskie, PTDC in Zabrze, PTDC in Warsaw-Białołęka. Having analysed material on the case, a body conducting pre-trial proceedings refused to initiate investigation in the absence of sufficient evidence of committing the offense. Having analysed a statement of reasons for the decision issued as a result of the proceedings, the HRD did not appeal against it. 22