The article focuses on basic assumptions of the Polish penitentiary policy reflected in both the original version of the 1997 Code of the Execution of Penalties and the 2022 Act amending this Code. Fundamental principles of the penitentiary policy in the light of the 1997 Code included humanitarianism, respecting the human dignity of convicts, and treating them as entities with specific rights and duties. Recent changes introduced by the Act of 5 August 2022 suggest a return to the idea of “education through discipline.” It was popular under the previous penal codification of 1969 and consisted in applying harsh prison regimes to off enders considered by the then authorities to be particularly dangerous for the state. However, the strategy of deterring crime through severe punishments enforced in harsh conditions has not been supported by scientific research and cannot be the basis for a humanitarian and rational penitentiary policy.