Report of the Human Rights Defender on the activities of the National Preventive Mechanism in Poland in 2012 3.  Disciplinary procedure Regrettably, reservations voiced by the visiting team are analogous to those reported in the previous years92. The NPM employees point to the fact that the catalogue of sanctions should not include disciplinary measures in the form of a transfer to another centre, work for the centre (or additional shifts), or suspension of rights of the juvenile. In each case the relevant international recommendations were provided. Punishment in the form of reduced food rations (no dessert or lunch), which was found in one of the establishments93, is unacceptable. In addition, the NPM representatives are of the opinion that juveniles who commit self-injury should not be punished (particularly those who do so as a result of strong emotional stress). The members of the visiting team do not question the need for preventing intentional self-injury, but emphasise that someone who cannot cope with difficulties should not be subjected to additional severity from the personnel. Autoagressive behaviour of a  juvenile means that he/she should receive support and undergo intensified therapy. The NPM employees also had reservations about the isolation of juveniles as a disciplinary measure. The members of the visiting team admit that there may be a need to separate a juvenile from his/her peers; however, this concerns situations and behaviours threatening life and health of the juvenile or of other people, or for the sake of ongoing proceedings. Moreover, a separated juvenile must be in the custody of a tutor94. When visiting youth care centres and youth sociotherapy centres, the visiting team found frequent instances of collective responsibility or punishments not provided for in the regulations such as ban on going outdoors, obligatory physical exercise, copying some sentences. In one of the visited centres95 the behaviour of tutors and the application of sanctions that served to humiliate the child, i.e. by forcing the juveniles to sleep in the corridor or placing them in a room that, as was explained to the NPM representatives, was called a “slum room”, because it had once been occupied by boys who did not observe personal hygiene, were recognised as reprehensible and unacceptable. Each time the visiting team recom HRD Bulletin. Sources 2011, No 3, pp. 104–105, Human Rights Defender Bulletin. Sources 2012, Nr 5, pp. 89-92. 93 Youth Sociotherapy Centre in Dobrodzień. 94 Rule 91.4 of the European Rules for juvenile offenders provides that: isolation in a calming down cell as a means of temporary restraint shall only be used exceptionally and only for a few hours and in any case shall not exceed twenty-four hours. 95 Youth Sociotherapy Centre in Białystok. 92 48