Report of the CHR on the Activities of the National Preventive Mechanism in Poland Furthermore, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities13 adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 13 December 2006 was ratified by Poland on 6 September 2012. In accordance with the Convention, persons with disabilities should be enabled to live their life independently and fully participate in all its spheres. The visits made support the general conclusion that, despite designating certain pre-trial detention centres and prisons as appropriate for the imprisonment of inmates in wheelchairs, solutions applied in these pre-trial detention centres and prisons fail to fully remove architectural barriers, thus making these facilities only partially available for this category of inmates. During thematic visits, the representatives of the National Preventive Mechanism also pointed out that the personnel of penitentiary establishments do not know what special needs persons with disabilities have. In her general letter of 21 May 201514, the Commissioner for Human Rights raised this issue, noting that the adequate performance of official duties by Prison Service officers in relation to such persons in penitentiary isolation is possible by having their needs properly recognised. Such knowledge should be acquired by providing appropriate training to the penitentiary personnel. The employees of the OCHR also considered that the way of performing personal controls of persons with disabilities should be legally regulated in the form of an appropriate procedure. Such a need was brought to the attention of the Director General of the Prison Service by the Commissioner in the letter referred to above. Unfortunately, the Director did not agree with the CHR’s position and informed that PS officers respect limitations of persons due to their disabilities and thus he does not see the need to develop a separate procedure for performing personal controls of such persons with disabilities. The need for recognising the way of dealing with prisoners with disabilities during the evacuation of prisoners from penitentiary establishments in case of emergency was recognised by the Commissioner in general letters of 28 July 2015 and 26 October 2015 to the Commander-in-Chief of the State Fire Service15 and the Director General of the Prison Service16, respectively. The Commander-in-Chief of the State Fire Service stated that he finds no obstacles to make the way of dealing with such a category of prisoners during evacuation more precise. He added, however, that the initiative in this matter is in the hands of directors of individual penitentiary facilities (reply of 20 August 2015). In turn, the Director General of the Prison Service believes that evacuation procedures, although not indicating specific rules for dealing with such persons in case of emergency, are sufficient, as they duly ensure security. Dz.U. of 2012, item 1169. KMP.571.1.2015.DK, https://www.rpo.gov.pl/sites/default/files/Wystąpienie%20Generalne%20do%20Dyrektora%20Generalnego%20SW%20z%2021.05.2015%20r.pdf 15 KMP.571.1.2015.DK, https://www.rpo.gov.pl/pl/content/wyst%C4%85pienie-generalne-z-dnia-28072015-r-do-komendantag%C5%82%C3%B3wnego-stra%C5%BCy-po%C5%BCarnej-w-sprawie 16 KMP.571.1.2015.DK,  https://www.rpo.gov.pl/pl/content/wyst%C4%85pienie-generalne-z-dnia-26102015-r-do-dyrektorageneralnego-sw-w-sprawie-zasad-ewakuacji-z-os%C3%B3b 13 14 14