In its summary report on the application of the Prisons Act122, the Senate states that: “We have just been through an election period: prisoners who made use of their possibility of voting were extremely few in number, which is harmful both in terms of citizenship and in terms of return to social life for these people. In our estimation, the only solution for changing this situation is the putting in place of polling stations within the institutions, which would enable such participation to be encouraged.” The Prisons Act hardly facilitated the exercise of voting rights by prisoners. It would be appropriate to put a procedure in place enabling persons placed in prisons to effectively exercise their voting rights. This includes greater facility in the issuing of identity papers, sufficiently early provision of information, a special regime of temporary release and, if necessary, greater flexibility of the rules for proxy voting, guaranteed by the registry. 4.2 Election of Domicile Remains a Rare Practice According to the terms of article 30 of the Prisons Act, “prisoners can elect domicile at the prison […] for the exercise of their civic rights, when they do not have a personal domicile, […] in order to claim the benefit of the rights mentioned under article L. 121-1 of the Social Action and Family Code (Code de l’action sociale et des familles) [in particular in order to claim legal social security benefits], and they do not have any alternative legal place of residence at the time of their imprisonment or cannot provide any proof thereof [and] in order to facilitate their administrative formalities”. In 2012, for a total of more than 64,000 prisoners there were only 275 cases of election of domicile, that is to say less than five out of a thousand persons. These figures are far from showing any effective improvement in the situation. The Contrôle Général recommends that the Prisons Act should open the possibility of granting prisoners the option of electing domicile at the communal or intercommunal public centre for social action (Centre communal/intercommunal d’action sociale) nearest to the place in which they are seeking employment within the framework their preparation for release. 4.3 Impossibility of Collective Expression of the Prison Population Article 29 of the Prisons Act mentions the possibility of consulting prisoners with regard to the activities offered to them, “subject to the maintenance of proper order and security within the institution”. Moreover, the right of association in the prison environment is not prohibited by any statutory text. During their visits, the inspectors regularly note the circulation of rumours in detention areas, spreading entirely unfounded or progressively distorted information. Such information may, for example concern financial questions – cost of products in prison shops, of the telephone etc. –, or be about more serious subjects such as the death of a person in their cell. This sometimes result in feelings of frustration and discontent which on occasion to generate into collective movements. 122 Report no. 629 presented by Mr Jean-René LECERF and Mrs Nicole BORVO COHEN-SEAT, op. cit.. 96