centre
Access to information
Notification of rights
Activities
Implementation of constant
recommendations of the CGLPL
Liberty and custody judge
Telephone
Administrative
detention
facility
Administrative
detention
142
Physical conditions of accommodation
Legal information and advice
The information provided to detainees on the functioning of the CRA is often lacking:
there is no “welcome booklet”; the information issued by the OFII is not sufficient
and several internal rules of life do not appear in the internal regulations, while the
rest is not always displayed in a sufficient number of languages.
Notifying the detainees of the rights is frequently done with the least possible
information, and only in the rare cases in which it is not done by the detaining agency.
The operation is rapid, a translation is sometimes provided over the phone and no
document summarising the rights is provided to the persons involved. This procedure
can sometimes ressemble somewhat of an assembly-line approach, and sometimes
the rights of appeal and the rights in detention are notified via a partially erroneous
print-out, and the policemen themselves act as interpreters.
Lack of activity is a frequent concern in CRA. Often, there is no activity other than
television; in some places, an activity room that used to exist has now disappeared,
there is no equipment such as games or books, the exercise time is reduced and
boredom is rampant. Activities, especially physical ones, must be organised.
The CGLPL, having visited each of the CRA several times and having issued
recommendations that do not fit comfortably with the facts, has requested the
Government to schedule a systematic implementation of these recommendations and
to ensure that they are monitored.
The CGLPL gave a reminder of its recommendation to reduce the intervention period
of the liberty and custody judge to 48 hours, which would allow a more effective
control of the lawfulness of the procedures.
The CGLPL recommends that the administrative detention facilities should be
equipped with telephones for the detainees and that the booths installed in the centres
must guarantee the confidentiality of the conversations. Recommendations were also
made to review the frequent practice of confiscating mobile phones from detainees if
they contain an in-built camera.
The conditions for receiving people detained in LRA do not sufficiently maintain
their dignity. In general, the rooms are well maintained, but there is no access to an
outdoor area for smoking or just to get some fresh air, to the extent that outings are
very rare and strongly depend on the needs of the services and officers present.
The rights of defence and access to legal aid are not properly guaranteed in LRA: the
lists of lawyers registered in the competent Bar are not displayed; sometimes, they
have not made this journey for several years as they have not been paid; the
organisation providing aid to foreign nationals are not always present, and their
contact details, as well as those of the consulate authorities, are often not displayed;
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