Polish drunk tanks under threat Opened in 1982 and designed to clear the streets of incapacitated drunks, the cells have defied the huge changes that have swept through Poland since the end of communism and withstood criticism from civil rights organisations that the practice of locking people up for up to 24 hours was a gross violation of human rights. But now austerity could kill them. Their numbers have fallen from 64 in 1994 to just 34 as councils struggling with a lack of money look for savings. "The financial situation of local government is now so severe that more and more of them are deciding to close the tanks," said Ewa Dawidziuk, from the Polish ombudsman's office. The end of the drunk tanks will come as welcome news to at least some in Poland as the institutions have attracted considerable criticism over their treatment of drunks. Visitors are often stripped of their clothes, denied the right to make phone calls and those that resist can be hosed down with cold water, drugged and even strapped to a bed. Yet their demise has also created problems. "An effect of their closure has been to shift responsibility for drunks to the police," added Ms Dawidziuk. But they lack the manpower and resources to deal with drunks, and don't have the medical facilities provided at the tanks. With the police often reluctant to take drunks many now end up in hospitals. The main hospital in the central town of Kielce now receives between 140-160 drunks a month but in the days when the town's drunk tank was operating it had no more than a dozen.