Report of the Human Rights Defender on the activities of the National Preventive Mechanism in Poland in 2012 In a part of establishments283, there is not enough room around the patients’ beds and the rooms are overcrowded284. The average space for one patient in the room with beds is slightly more than 3 m², but additional beds are placed in the rooms if necessary. In some rooms, the beds are put so close together that patients are as if on one common bed or beds are put in the passage or in the door, or next to a sink. It can be dangerous, if the patients must be quickly evacuated or there is a need to get to a lying patient (also the necessary access to a bed from 3 sides, including 2 longer ones, is not guaranteed). It also has an adverse impact on mental conditions of the patients who not only cannot move freely around their beds, but also, suffering from their ailments, are in an uncomfortable situation of being too close physically to strangers in various condition. Long-term confinement to a  small space, partial isolation and the related reduction of positive incentives are not conducive to recovery and put the patients off psychiatric treatment in hospitals. In the case of unplanned admissions, the patients are sometimes placed on beds in the corridors which they consider to be unequal treatment. The rooms with beds in all hospitals are austerely decorated (also in the visited wards for children)285. As regards personal belongings, the patients usually only had small unlockable bedside tables to store them. The patients who had more stuff had to keep their belongings in a sack or a bag under the bed. The representatives of the Mechanism noted, however, that in some establishments286 at least a part of the patients did not even have bedside tables; this concerned in particular the persons in observation rooms or sections. 283 Voivodeship Psychiatric Hospital in Olsztyn, Voivodeship Hospital for Neurotic and Psychiatric Patients in Suchowola, Public Health Care Centre in Łuków, some rooms in the wards for juveniles in the Voivodeship Hospital for Neurotic and Psychiatric Patients in Lubiąż. 284 This is in breach of § 18 and 19 of the Ordinance of the Minister of Health of 26 June 2012 on specific requirements to be met by rooms and facilities of the entity providing medical treatment (Dz. U. of 2012 item 739). 285 The CPT states that particular attention should be given to the decoration of both patients’ rooms and recreation areas, in order to give patients visual stimulation. The provision of bedside tables and wardrobes is highly desirable, and patients should be allowed to keep certain personal belongings (photographs, books, etc). The importance of providing patients with lockable space in which they can keep their belongings should also be underlined; the failure to provide such a facility can impinge upon a patient’s sense of security and autonomy [§ 34 of the 8th General Report CPT/Inf (98) 12].. 286 Public Health Care Centre in Łuków, Voivodeship Psychiatric Hospital in Olsztyn, Voivodeship Hospital for Neurotic and Psychiatric Patients in Lubiąż. 104