Abstract

The article provides a critical reconstruction of international standards for the protection of human rights in the execution of custodial sentences and confronts them with the Polish legal order and penitentiary practice. Within a doctrinal and comparative-legal framework, the analysis encompasses binding legal norms (the ECHR, the ICCPR, the Polish Executive Penal Code and executory acts) as well as soft-law instruments (the 2020 European Prison Rules, CPT standards, the Mandela Rules and the Bangkok Rules). The article focuses on: the principle of respect for human dignity and the requirement of humane treatment; the absolute prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; the right to maintain contact with the outside world; material living-condition standards; and special arrangements for pregnant women and mothers residing with their children.
The conclusions identify areas of convergence and implementation gaps, including the need to refine the guarantees of privacy in the use of sanitary facilities, to support the maintenance of family ties, and to give practical effect to the principle that custodial penalty must not exacerbate the suffering inherent in deprivation of liberty itself.