amount of duties of the officers had decreased209. The deputy director of the prison in Łupków stated that the epidemic-related restrictions had little impact on the staffing situation in the establishment; the situation remained relatively stable and did not bring any negative consequences for the prisoners. 210. Prisoners in the remand prisons in Kraków and in Bydgoszcz-Fordon pointed out that, depending on the weather conditions and the workload on the officers, there were cases in which the prisoners’ walks lasted longer than the standard 60 minutes a day. This shows that the officers have been open to the needs of the inmates. The solution of going beyond the required standard should be a positive example for other penitentiary establishments. Specific actions taken in penitentiary establishments in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic All establishments visited by the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture operated according to the procedures aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus. These included the guidelines of the Director General of the Prison Service and the resulting instructions of the directors of the individual establishments. Also, in many establishments211 special teams were established to coordinate actions taken in connection with the epidemiological situation. Their purpose was to monitor the situation related to the epidemic risk in the establishment and in the country, and to coordinate the implementation of related procedures. In some establishments, only Prison Service officers (e.g. on the managerial level) or only civilian employees were appointed as members of such teams. The exception was the prison in Jastrzębie-Zdrój, in which, in addition to officers, the team included the facility’s doctor and a nurse. Also at the prison in Krzywaniec, the team included representatives of the prison’s medical staff. Another example of an interdisciplinary team that coordinated activities related to the epidemic risk may be the team established in the Łupków prison, which, apart from the managers of the establishment, included: a doctor, nurses, heads of the individual wards, a health and safety inspector, an inspector responsible for examining complaints and requests, a health and safety inspector, and an inspector for staffing. At the same prison, a management team was also appointed which, every working day, held a meeting to discuss the current epidemiological situation in the country and the possible actions to ensure See: Report on the NMPT visit to the remand prison in Kraków (KMP.571.9.2020) and the prison in BydgoszczFordon (KMP.571.24.2020). 209 210 See: Report on the NMPT visit to the prison in Łupków (KMP.571.26.2020). See: Reports on the NMPT visits to the remand prisons in Międzyrzecz (KMP.571.16.2020), Białystok (KMP.571.17.2020) and Wrocław (KMP.571.11.2020), the prisons in Barczewo (KMP.571.22. 2020), BydgoszczFordon (KMP.571.24.2020), Czarne (KMP.571.21.2020), Głogów (KMP.571.23.2020) and Łupków (KMP.571.26. 2020), prison no.1 in Grudziądz (KMP.571.12.2020) and the prison in Krzywaniec (KMP.571.13.2020). 211 83