establishments visited in different Federal States (Länder). This significant difference from one Land to another is also reflected in the response of the German authorities. 39. The report notes that the CPT’s delegation heard no allegations of deliberate physical ill-treatment of detained persons by police officers whilst in police custody. However, some allegations – in particular from foreign nationals and persons with psycho-social and/or learning disabilities – were noted concerning the excessive use of force by police officers at the time of apprehension. 40. The CPT gained a positive impression regarding fundamental safeguards against police ill- treatment, especially with regard to the rights of notification of custody and access to a doctor. Nevertheless it calls on the German authorities to ensure that all detained persons benefit from access to a lawyer throughout their police custody, including during any police questioning. In response, the German authorities provide details about the planned amendment to the Federal Code of Criminal Procedure aimed at extending access to a lawyer so that this right is available during periods of questioning by law enforcement officials. 41. The CPT welcomes the fact that, since the 2010 visit, the use of mechanical restraint (Fixierung) in the context of police custody has been abandoned by the police authorities of several Länder. The Committee calls upon the police authorities of all other Länder concerned to put an end to this practice without further delay. According to the response from the German authorities, this is not possible in the view of the Länder authorities concerned, for which Fixierung might continue to be used in very specific, isolated cases. 42. Similarly, the CPT is pleased to observe that the downward trend regarding the use of Fixierung in the prison context continues. In most prisons visited, hardly any prisoner has been subjected to the practice in recent years. In its report the Committee encourages the relevant authorities of all Länder to abandon the resort to Fixierung in prisons. 43. The CPT’s report notes significant differences among establishments regarding the use of solitary confinement as a disciplinary measure. While used only rarely in recent years in some prisons, it was imposed more frequently in Kaisheim Prison, for up to the legal maximum period of four weeks, which the Committee finds excessive. The CPT also recommends that solitary confinement as a disciplinary sanction be abolished for juveniles. 44. The report also underscores the stark contrast regarding contact with the outside world in the different prisons visited by the CPT’s delegation. In several prisons, prisoners had access to the telephone inside their cells, whereas in the prison visited in Bavaria, neither remand nor sentenced prisoners were allowed to make any telephone calls. 45. Living conditions and psychiatric treatment in psychiatric establishments were generally of a high standard, but in Brandenburg Forensic Psychiatric Clinic, some patients who had committed sex offences and who had been or were receiving anti-androgen treatment (so-called “chemical castration”) claimed that a treating doctor put them under pressure to accept the treatment, which – the CPT recalls – should be given on a strictly voluntary basis. In their response the German authorities assert that this principle is indeed being respected. General Report of the CPT, 2017 ► Page 18