Prisons and pre-trial detention centres The representatives of the National Preventive Mechanism also took part in 3 ad hoc visits7. Their aim was to check the status of persons with intellectual disabilities or mental illnesses serving a prison sentence and staying in diagnostic centres8. 2.2 Systemic problems The visits allowed for identifying general problems resulting from imperfections of the law that regulates the rights and obligations of persons deprived of their liberty which, compared to 2014, are still valid. The major imperfections are as follows: 1) Dealing with persons with physical disabilities in penitentiary establishments The problem of adjustment of prisons and pre-trial detention centres for persons with physical disabilities has been reported by the representatives of the National Preventive Mechanism for several years9. As announced in the Report of the NPM of 2014, more than half of the visits in 2015 were made to check the extent to which places of detention were adjusted to the needs of persons with disabilities. The establishments visited were selected based on the content of the Annex to Order No 30/15 of the Director General of the Prison Service of 1 July 2015 on determining the intended purpose of prisons and pre-trial detention centres10 and preceding Order No 55/13 of the Director General of the Prison Service of 20 December 2013 on determining the intended purpose of prisons and pre-trial detention centres. Some controls were performed with the participation of representatives of the “Polska Bez Barrier” Foundation11 and the “Integracja” Foundation12 whose everyday responsibilities involve verifying the adjustment of building structures to the needs of persons with disabilities. It is worth recalling and indicating that, in accordance with the Charter of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities adopted on 1 August 1997 by the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, persons with disabilities have the right to live in an environment free of functional barriers. Diagnostic wards of PTDCs in: Warsaw-Białołęka, Łódź, Kraków. Visits to diagnostic centres were made in order to find detained persons who, due to their intellectual disabilities, are unable to behave properly and thus to understand why they are in penitentiary isolation. The visits were held by the Deputy Commissioner for Human Rights and the OCHR’s Sentence Execution Team, and the representatives of the NPM attended them to assist members of the Team in accomplishing tasks which included: inspection of all residential cells in a centre, group conversations in cells, individual conversations with selected persons so as to ensure that no third parties are present and an analysis of their personal background records in terms of considering the fact of their intellectual disabilities by the court as a condition for the obligatory participation of a defence attorney in pending proceedings. The results of the analyses performed were made public on 2 March 2016. Cf. https://www.rpo.gov.pl/pl/content/ wiezniowie-o-umyslowo%C5%9Bci-dzieci-chorzy-psychicznie-rpo-opowiada-o-wynikach-badan-w-wi%C4%99zieniach 9 Cf. Report of the CHR on the Activities of the NPM in Poland in 2011, p. 50, https://www.rpo.gov.pl/pl/content/ raport-rpo-z-dzia%C5%82alno%C5%9Bci-w-polsce-kmp-w-roku-2011-0 10 http://www.bip.sw.gov.pl/SiteCollectionDocuments/CZSW/aktyprawne/zal_do_zarz_30_15.pdf 11 PTDCs in: Warsaw-Mokotów, Kraków, Suwałki; Prs in: Włocławek, Gębarzewo. 12 PTDC in Szczecin, Pr in Hrubieszów. 7 8 13