–4– 58. Since the beginning of its activities in the early 1990s, the CPT has emphasised the crucial importance a satisfactory programme of activities has for prisoners, including those on remand. In this regard, it is a matter of serious concern that, in a considerable number of countries, the specific recommendations made by the Committee concerning the regime of remand prisoners remain to be implemented. Whilst acknowledging that the provision of organised activities in remand prisons, where there is likely to be a high turnover of inmates, poses particular challenges, it is not acceptable to lock up remand prisoners in their cells for up to 23 hours per day and to leave them to their own devices for months or even years on end. The CPT calls upon the prison authorities of the countries concerned to devise and implement a comprehensive regime of out-of-cell activities. The aim should be to ensure that remand prisoners (as well as sentenced prisoners) are able to spend a reasonable part of the day (i.e. eight hours or more) outside their cells, engaged in purposeful activity of a varied nature (work, preferably with vocational value,10 education, sport, recreation/association). The longer the period of remand detention, the more varied the regime should be. All prisoners, without exception, must be offered at least one hour of outdoor exercise a day, in suitable facilities. 59. As regards contact with the outside world, the CPT considers that remand prisoners should in principle be allowed to communicate with their family and other persons (correspondence, visits, telephone) in the same way as sentenced prisoners.11 All inmates should benefit from a visiting entitlement of at least one hour every week and have access to a telephone at the very least once a week (in addition to the contacts with their lawyer(s)). Moreover, the use of modern technology (such as free-of-charge Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services) may help prisoners to maintain contact with their families and other persons. 60. In certain countries, the CPT observed that, according to the applicable rules, certain restrictions were imposed on all remand prisoners as a matter of policy, for instance, a total ban on telephone calls, visits or the obligation to receive visits only under closed conditions (i.e. through a glass partition). In the CPT’s view, applying such restrictions indiscriminately to all remand prisoners is not acceptable; any restrictions must be based on a thorough individual assessment of the risk which prisoners may present. 61. Further, in a number of countries, remand prisoners are obliged to request authorisation from a judge or prosecutor for every single visit. In this regard, the CPT considers that remand prisoners should be entitled to receive visits (and make telephone calls) as a matter of principle, rather than these being subject to authorisation by a judicial authority. Any refusal in a given case to permit such contacts should be specifically substantiated by the needs of the investigation, require the approval of a judicial authority and be applied for a specific period of time. If it is considered that there is an ongoing risk of collusion, particular visits (or telephone calls) can be monitored. 62. The CPT has repeatedly come across situations where far-reaching restrictions are imposed on remand prisoners by judicial authorities, in the interests of an ongoing criminal investigation. Such restrictions may entail a total prohibition of contacts with the outside world (except with the lawyer) combined with segregation from all other prisoners, the result being that the prisoners are held for a certain period under conditions amounting to solitary confinement. 10 It should be added, however, that, according to Rule 100.1 of the European Prison Rules, “[u]ntried prisoners shall be offered the opportunity to work but shall not be required to work”. 11 See Rule 99 of the European Prison Rules.