On December 5, 2025, the District Prosecutor’s Office in Legnica filed an indictment with the court concerning three educators from the Regional Educational Center in Jerzmanice-Zdrój, who were charged with aggressive behavior toward several wards. – The most serious offense concerns 61-year-old Jacek T. – reports Liliana Łukasiewicz, press spokeswoman for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Legnica.

T. was accused of physically and psychologically abusing a 13-year-old ward who was in a permanent relationship of dependence on him and was helpless due to his age and mental condition, in four separate incidents on November 21, 2024, while performing his duties as an educator. The spokeswoman said: – He repeatedly struck him with an open hand and fist on the head and chest, kicked him in the head and chest, causing bodily injuries, pulled him by his clothes and dragged him across the floor, and humiliated him by ordering him to sit on the floor of a publicly accessible corridor used at that time by other wards of the center, as a result of which the minor attempted to take his own life.

An ambulance was called for the 13-year-old, who was found after five minutes. The minor had been a ward of the above-mentioned center since April 2024. He had been placed there by a decision of the Family Court in Świebodzin. The boy’s mother is dead, and his father is serving a prison sentence. 

The educator’s conduct was classified as abuse. Such an act is punishable by 2 to 15 years’ imprisonment. 

Jacek T., questioned during the investigation, did not admit to committing the alleged offense and provided extensive explanations. He stated that, when striking the minor with an open hand, he had used direct coercive measures to control the above-mentioned boy’s aggressive and dangerous behavior. He argued that on August 13, 2024, the director of the Regional Educational Center in Jerzmanice-Zdrój had already filed an application with the District Court in Zielona Góra to place the ward in a closed psychiatric treatment facility.

An expert in suicidology stated that the conduct of suspect Jacek T. toward the 13-year-old had a decisive influence on the minor’s suicide attempt and was the reason he tried to take his own life. 

The expert also indicated that the teenager, who had been rejected throughout his life by important people, neglected and physically harmed, and who had been attacked by a person whose role was to defend and protect him, experienced a very strong emotional reaction that drove him to take such a dramatic step. 

The minor regained consciousness in hospital after approximately 30 days in a coma. He was diagnosed with damage to the central nervous system and psycho-organic syndrome. During hospitalization, his condition gradually improved. On March 11, 2025, after stays in hospitals in Legnica and Wrocław, the boy was placed in a social welfare facility, where he remains and continues to undergo rehabilitation. 

The spokeswoman said: – In view of the content of the psychological opinion obtained, which indicates that the minor’s memory of the incident is severely distorted, the prosecutor decided that the boy should not be questioned during the investigation, primarily in order to protect him from the trauma that this procedural act could cause. 

The accused, Jacek T., was held in pre-trial detention from November 25, 2024. On January 17, 2025, the prosecutor lifted the detention and applied non-custodial preventive measures in the form of a property bond, police supervision, and suspension from performing his official duties at the Regional Educational Center in Jerzmanice-Zdrój. 

Jacek T. had been employed at the Regional Educational Center in Jerzmanice-Zdrój (formerly the Juvenile Detention Center in Jerzmanice-Zdrój) since September 1, 2006, as a school principal, boarding school manager, and educator. He had a good reputation at work.

43-year-old Krzysztof S. was accused of violating the bodily integrity of a minor – the same 13-year-old ward – on October 27, 2024, while performing his duties as an educator. The prosecutor said: – In response to the teenager’s aggressive behavior, he entered his bedroom and then, pulling him by the arm and leg, dragged him out of bed and struck him with an open hand around the head, after which he threw the injured party onto the bed.

For this act – violating bodily integrity – S. faces a fine, restriction of liberty, or imprisonment of up to one year. This is an offense prosecuted by private indictment. The prosecutor took over prosecution of the offense ex officio. 

The incident came to light as a result of the Police reviewing several hundred hours of recordings secured from groups I and IV of the Jerzmanice facility. 

Krzysztof S. has been employed as an educator at the Regional Educational Center in Jerzmanice-Zdrój since July 1, 2024.

The above-mentioned man did not admit to committing the alleged offense and provided explanations in which he described the minor’s reprehensible behavior as the cause of his actions. 

No preventive measures were applied against S.

The third defendant in the case is 59-year-old educator Mirosław W. Prosecutor L. Łukasiewicz:

The above-mentioned man was accused of causing bodily injury to a 17-year-old minor on November 18, 2024, while performing his duties as an educator of group I, (...) in that, while in the common room during group activities for his wards, he reacted to the teenager’s provocative behavior by striking him with an open hand on the back of the head and then knocking him from the armchair in which he was sitting, after which he struck him with his fists on the head and torso and pulled him by his clothes, causing the injured party to fall to the floor. As a result, the 17-year-old suffered bodily injuries in the form of a contusion of the head, resulting in impairment of the functioning of organs and disruption of his health for a period of less than seven days.

This offense is punishable by 3 months to 5 years’ imprisonment. 

The District Prosecutor’s Office in Złotoryja was notified of the offense on November 28, 2024, by the new director of the Regional Educational Center in Jerzmanice-Zdrój. The incident was discovered while reviewing surveillance footage during an ad hoc inspection ordered by the Ministry of Justice immediately after the incident.

Marcin W. admitted to committing the alleged offense and stated that his conduct had been a one-time occurrence, caused by the ward’s inappropriate behavior as well as considerable stress resulting from his workload. 

Taking into account the penalty threatened for the alleged offense and the attitude of the suspect, who provided explanations and expressed remorse, the prosecutor decided to apply non-custodial preventive measures against him in the form of suspension from performing his official duties at the Regional Educational Center in Jerzmanice-Zdrój and a property bond.

Marcin W. had been employed at the Regional Educational Center in Jerzmanice-Zdrój (formerly the Juvenile Detention Center in Jerzmanice-Zdrój) since September 1, 2006, as an educator.

The case will be heard by the District Court in Złotoryja.