MONITORING PLACES OF DETENTION : A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR NGOS 64 One or two visitors can take part in the talk, one leading the discussion and the other taking notes. While this might seem overpowering to the person deprived of liberty, it has the advantage of enabling the person leading the talk to concentrate better; it should, however, be cleared with the detained person. For any number of reasons— experience or emotional state, prolonged deprivation of liberty leading to loss of the notion of time, memory blackouts, obsessive thoughts, etc.—the way people deprived of their liberty express themselves is often rather confused. The talks in private must be managed in such a way as to reconcile the need to obtain information, emotional considerations, and the time available. It is thus vital constantly to strike a balance between: ■ the need to gather the information necessary to assess the conditions of detention and the person’s need to express him-/herself on the subjects preoccupying him/her. Anything resembling an interrogation should be avoided at all costs; ■ an attitude of empathy toward the person and the emotional distance needed for the visitor to carry through the talk. The point of equilibrium will also depend on the emotional state of the person deprived of liberty; ■ the distribution of the time available between the person’s need to communicate and the visitor’s need to obtain information, depending on the estimated length of each talk as calculated beforehand. In addition to the talks, whose main aim is to gather the information necessary to monitor the conditions of detention, it is strongly recommended that visitors seize any other opportunity to talk with the