d/ Family Ties Various different measures, several of which have already been set out in previous reports, are needed in order to improve the respect for family life to which every detainee is entitled, whatever their situation. In the first place, visits from detainees’ close relations and friends should be guaranteed, naturally without imposing any requirements whatsoever upon these close relations with regard to lawfulness of residence papers. The fundamental right of family ties transcends obligations born from French law. Visits should have no consequence with regard to the presence of members of the family within the territory. This point is understood by most heads of detention centres; it would be desirable for this pragmatic requirement to appear in the texts. In the second place, the privacy appropriate to family relations needs to be respected for meetings, within the framework of the supervision which is obviously necessary. However, the latter needs to give priority to certain preconditions. Except in case of specific circumstances – it is difficult to justify the presence of a police officer at the time of the reuniting of close relations as being proportionate to the risks involved. The possibility of ensuring security with regard to the visitor, if necessary by means of frisk searches (apart from the compulsory depositing of certain objects), is less shocking than the presence of a third party during the exchanges. In the third place, as already pointed out, the meeting places need to be subject to national specifications, applicable at least in detention centres (minimum surface area, separate cubicles) and paragraph 8° of article R. 553-3 of the CESEDA appropriately supplemented on this point. Finally, in the fourth place, the length of visits should not be shorter than half an hour, except in case of constraint justified on specific grounds involving the person or exceptionally large numbers of persons, which have rarely been noted by the Contrôle. Moreover, this duration appears in the rules and regulations: the managers of centres need to ensure minimum application thereof. Indeed, in some centres extensions are naturally accorded when there is no reason to deny them. Close attention also needs to be given to the quality of reception of close friends and family. The possibility of the latters’ going to the centre needs to be ensured: too few signs on the public highway, too little public transport. e/ Healthcare In the vast majority of centres, article L. 6112-1 of the Public Health Code, which entrusts provision of treatment of detainees to public hospitals, naturally comes into application. The material conditions of exercise thereof are not always satisfactory. In one of the centres inspected, the healthcare premises consisted of a single room of 12.9 m², which obliged the nurse to come in the mornings and the doctor in the afternoons, without ever meeting each other, in order to respect the confidentiality of treatment. Article R. 553-3 of the CESEDA (paragraph 7° thereof), which currently provides that each centre shall contain “one or several rooms equipped with medical facilities”, clearly also needs to be amended and supplemented with regard to this issue. A difficulty exists with regard to the distribution of medicines to detainees. In the absence of sufficient presence, the nurses are often led, in particular towards the end of the week, to hand over prescriptions in various different forms (in envelopes etc.) to 27