A/HRC/53/26/Add.1 for the purpose of the return procedure, may be placed in a guarded centre for a period no longer than three months. The period of detention may be extended but according to article 403 (3), it may not exceed six months. Only in exceptional situations, when a foreigner does not cooperate in the identification process, may detention be prolonged for a specified period of time, but no longer than 12 months. Moreover, pursuant to articles 89 (1) and (5) of the Act on granting protection, a foreigner under the asylum procedure may be placed in a guarded centre for a period of up to 60 days, which may be prolonged but may not exceed six months. However, since, in practice, different procedures may overlap, the period of detention could potentially extend up to 18 months. 73. The provisions of the Act on foreigners and the Act on granting protection to foreigners introduced the possibility of applying alternative measures to the detention of foreigners.14 Such a decision may be adopted at the stage of assessing a foreigner’s situation by a border guard, as well as at a later stage, when the court examines the application submitted by the border guard for placing a foreigner in a guarded centre. Both acts allow families with children to be placed in guarded centres. Unaccompanied children under return procedures can also be detained if over age 15 and meeting certain conditions. 74. Border guards, based on information received from initial contact, assess whether to place individuals intercepted at the border in a guarded facility and submit application forms to the court for its consideration. Courts seem to accept these requests as a standard practice. However, questions as to the independence of the decisions of the courts arise since, pursuant to these applications, migrants and asylum-seekers are routinely ordered to be placed in guarded facilities. While placing asylum-seekers in guarded facilities seems to be the general practice, border guards have applied alternatives to detention in exceptional circumstances, for instance, when migrants present physical or mental impediments or disabilities. In such cases, border guards may refer migrants to shelters run by the Dialogue Foundation, a local non-governmental organization, where migrants are housed and attended to by civil society actors. The cost of the accommodation of migrants is covered by the Border Guard. These cases, however, remained exceptional, as border guards consider the risk of migrants fleeing from these shelters is elevated and therefore have little incentive to use them. It is worth mentioning that between the beginning of 2021 and 1 July 2022, the Head of the Office for Foreigners released 502 migrants from guarded detention centres. 75. The Special Rapporteur acknowledges efforts made by Polish Border Guard in improving the conditions of stay in closed facilities of Lesznowola, Biala Podlaska and Bialystok. Multiple teams are deployed to provide information on relevant procedures, social activities, educational programmes and medical and psychological support to detainees at the closed facilities. However, in some instances, the lack, inter alia, of access to independent legal counselling, insufficient mental health care, limited outdoor time and lack of efficient communication tools remain issues of concern. 76. In practice, migrants, including children and pregnant women, spend several months in closed detention facilities. The majority of those detained are third-country nationals who were apprehended crossing the Polish-Belarusian border. Individuals held in these centres do not have access to accurate information regarding the state of the proceedings which they are subjected to, such as return and asylum procedures. As observed by the delegation, most migrants did not know for how long they would remain in detention. The uncertainty caused great amount of distress and anxiety and exacerbated the deterioration of their psychological health. 77. Despite the possibility provided under Polish law allowing border guards to apply alternatives to detention, and the fact that the Office for Foreigners has the power to release asylum applicants from detention, and is doing so in several cases, the Special Rapporteur witnessed many migrants in the most vulnerable situations who remained detained in closed facilities, including families with children, pregnant woman and persons with mental health conditions. There were at least five babies at the closed facility the delegation visited. Some of the babies were born in Belarus and received their first vaccine there. The Special Rapporteur recognized their photos during his visit to the crisis room in Grodno where their 14 GE.23-06742 AL POL 3/2022. 15