Kaczyński went to visit one of two former ministers serving prison sentences

PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński on Friday visited the penal institution in Przytuły Stare (approx. 120 km from Warsaw), where the former deputy interior minister Maciej Wąsik is serving his two year sentence. Both Wąsik and his former boss at the ministry, Mariusz Kamiński, have gone on hunger strike. Kamiński has been placed in another prison.

Kaczyński told reporters in front of the prison he was not allowed to see the inmate. "I've been told that, due to his health condition, he doesn't even have intravenous feeding like minister Kamiński has, and this painful, nasogastric feeding is out of the question at the moment," he said.

"I just wanted to see minister Wąsik to ask him how he feels and to simply greet him as a colleague, but above all Mrs Wąsik, his wife, has asked me to pay this visit," he added. "She is very worried and hasn't visited for some time now, she has used up the two visits per months limit. ... I fully understand her discomfort."

"And so I wasn't able to do anything here as rules are rules, and you can't use other methods here," the PiS chairman said.

Kaczyński also commented on Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar's words regarding Kamiński and Wąsik's potential temporary release from prison. Bodnar said earlier on Friday that the request was still being analysed and the final decision would be made "in the coming days".

"I think it's due to malice, this outfit is malicious, they have plenty of malice. Besides, to put it simply, they are simply bad people, you could call them that. Today in power we have bad people, full of malice and bad emotions, and such government will do us harm, us meaning Poland, an awful harm," he added.

He then said he would take part in a demonstration in front of the prison later that day.

On Dec. 20, 2023, the Regional Court in Warsaw sentenced Kamiński and Wąsik to two years in prison for abuse of power years back in the so-called "land scandal". The two politicians were detained by the police last Tuesday (Jan. 9) and placed in separate prisons shortly after.

Last Thursday (Jan. 11), President Duda launched a pardoning procedure of Kamiński and Wąsik, acting at the request of the jailed politicians' wives. He also asked minister Bodnar, who is also Poland's prosecutor general, to suspend their imprisonment for the duration of the pardoning procedure.

Adam Bodnar confirmed he had received the president's request in that regard and launched the proceedings. The justice minister told TVN24 on Monday (Jan. 15) he would look into the Kamiński and Wąsik's case files and that he would send them back to the president "in a few days," along with his opinion on the matter. He added that from then on "everything is in the president's hands".