With regard to conditions of committal, especially those according to which patients are informed of their rights, in particular their rights to remedy and the means at their disposal to exercise them; With regard to the conditions under which they appear, within the deadlines laid down by law, before the liberty and custody judge; with regard, in particular, to the information that may be given to them by the staff before and after the hearing; With regard to their relations with the exterior. A priori, the manner in which correspondence, telephones (including cell phones), visits and other means of personal contact (iPhones and messaging) are regulated needs to be identical, only varying – temporarily – over time according to the patient’s state. With regard to rights concerning freedom of expression: the patient’s right to communication, in the sense of personal expression to others, on the one hand, and of receiving, on the other; in particular with regard to freedom of information, free access to religious worship and respect for associated prescriptions68. With regard to all that follows from respect for their private life and, in particular, their privacy, obviously under conditions compatible with the requirements of collective life and security: conditions of family visits, protection of the room (cf. above) etc. Finally, with regard to possessions, to which the right to respect for their personal property is attached. Although, in most cases not of great monetary worth, the value that the patient attaches to them should be manifested, as the Contrôle Général has noted in a certain number of inspections, by procedures such as inventories on admission and discharge, protection of possessions of value and the possibility of taking care of due dates for properties outside (payment of rents etc.). Such is the case, in particular, of patients for whom no provision has been made for protective measures. In this regard, the appointment of a trusted person as legal representative (which also involves procedures that need to be standardised between units) is likely to facilitate the effectiveness of this right69. It would be useful for these various different elements to be specified in a circular issued by the minister in charge of Health, in order to shed light upon and facilitate the deliberations of the institutions. 68 69 See section 8 below Reviewing the Question of Secularism in Prisons. See section 9 below concerning patients’ rights. 63