benefits are considerable. What are we waiting for before institutionalising a prison regulation system that would roll out on a broader scale constructive practices that are too few and far between today? Do we have to wait for France to be found guilty by the ECHR, along the same lines as the Torreggiani judgment of 8 January 2013, which obliged the Italian authorities to provide a recourse system able to bring an end to the hardship resulting from prison overcrowding? These days, overcrowding in prisons means that such a remedy can no longer carry out the rehabilitation mission it is assigned by the law. For the past eight years, the CGLPL has observed that the punitive dimension of imprisonment still prevails, and that a number of fundamental rights – though essential for rehabilitation – are losing ground: rights to health, to work, to staying in touch with family and to collective expression are not respected, when they form the very cornerstone of a rehabilitation plan. These trends are also apparent in psychiatry, where the number of committals without consent has risen and the past two decades have seen an increase in solitary confinement and physical restraint measures without any ex ante or ex post verification – right up until a recent Act dated 26 January 2016, the application circular for which had still not published at the time this report was being written. At the same time, the CGLPL is observing a fresh surge in the placing in administrative detection of families accompanied by minor children, despite France's condemnation by the ECHR in 2012 and despite the commitment made in this respect in 2012 by the candidate who went on to be elected President of the Republic. In such a context, where the reminder that society must respect fundamental rights is hardly ringing loud and clear, the CGLPL pressed ahead with its mission with determination in 2016. After observing two examples of "the serious violation of fundamental rights" of people deprived of their liberty which, in my view, amounted to inhuman or degrading treatment, I submitted emergency recommendations on two occasions to the Government. The first set, concerning the psychotherapy centre in Bourg-en-Bresse, Ain, sought to put an end to a widespread, abusive practice of solitary confinement and contention the likes of which has never been seen before. The second set, concerning the men's remand prison of the Fresnes prison complex, denounced substandard detention conditions marred by the compounded effects of overcrowding, unacceptable hygiene, chronic understaffing and premises in dire state of disrepair. Over the year, the CGLPL will have conducted 146 visits, including one Overseas mission and the inspection of the operations to dismantle the Paris and Calais migrant camps, and processed some 4,000 letters. I have been obliged to draw the public authorities' attention to several matters of the utmost relevance this year: - the lawmakers, regarding the reform of the full-body search policy in prisons and the unfairness of extending the time limit for referring cases to the Liberty and custody judge for people placed in administrative detection in Mayotte; - the Government, regarding the health issues in detention centres for illegal immigrants or access to IT in prisons; - several reports or opinions have been published about the use of solitary confinement and restraint in mental health institutions, the management of radicalisation in prisons and the situation of women deprived of their liberty. 12