International standards of serving imprisonment for mentally ill prisoners and Polish realities

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyze soft law international standards regarding serving imprisonment by mentally ill prisoners and to verify the extent to which these standards have been implemented in Poland. The first part of the work discusses the recommendations developed by the United Nations, i.e. the Mandela Rules and Resolution A/RES/46/119: The protection of persons with mental illness and the improvement of mental health care. Then, the recommendations of the Council of Europe were analyzed, i.e. the European Prison Rules and Recommendation No. R (98) 7 of the Committee of Ministers to member states concerning the ethical and organizational aspects of health care in prison. The second part of the work discusses the situation of mentally ill prisoners serving sentences in Polish penitentiary units based on information made available to the public by the Commissioner for Human Rights. The last part of the work consists of the author’s own conclusions and an assessment of the solutions to the changes proposed by the Commissioner for Human Rights.