suffering from psychiatric disorders and the prevention of psychiatric disorders in two instances, under article 46 paragraphs 4 and 5, whereas the requirements of psychiatric care have become a vital question in French prisons. In fact it has not contributed to any notable advance with regard to health issues in prison. The ambition of bringing the rights of imprisoned patients into line with those of ordinary patients is still in progress (article 46 paragraph 2 of the Prisons Act). 7.1 Access to Healthcare: a Fundamental Right whose Implementation is often still disrupted Lateness and omissions in the passing on of applications for treatment and delays in taking prisoners to health services are common. Delays in this “physical” access to healthcare can be explained in the first place by the practical and regulatory slowness inherent to the prison environment and connected to the necessary security measures. Thus, prisoners are rarely informed of the dates of their appointments within the medical unit and, for security reasons, are never informed of dates of removal from prison for medical consultations. They may thus have to choose between a visit and an appointment with the doctor, a long awaited meeting with the prison rehabilitation and probation counsellor or dental treatment. This will then be a difficult choice. Similarly, the waiting times for appointments, which are often long, mean that symptoms disappear and anxieties become calmed, making them unnecessary. On the fringes, this is also linked to the behaviours of certain members of prison staff who may delay the passing on of patients’ applications when they are in dispute with the prisoners, their managers, or the doctors or nurses. However, it has to be noted that, during the daytime, this does not apply to cases considered “urgent” or “serious”. In spite of the difficulties inherent to surgeries encountered throughout the territory of France, the inspectors have thus not noted any delay leading to loss of chances in emergency situations. Outside of opening times, in particular at night, medical actions are set in motion by prison staff. They systematically call the CRRA call reception and control centre (centre de réception et de régulation des appels) of the SAMU Emergency Medical Services (service d'aide médical d'urgence) At night, prisoners encounter considerable difficulties in making their calls heard. It would be appropriate to put this difficulty right by any useful means. On two occasions, in one institution in the South of France, the neighbours in cells near to a person in an emergency situation, who was unable to attract the attention of the night warders, called the fire brigade directly on their mobile phones. The latter arrived at the door of the institution, thus informing the staff that there was an emergency within the institution.157 157 A protocol signed by the managing director of the regional health agency, the director of the interregional department of prison services, the head of the prison and the head of the health institution concerned defines the conditions under which actions are conducted by health professionals called to act in urgent situations in prisons, in order to guarantee access to emergency treatment to prisoners under conditions equivalent to those of which the population as a whole has the benefit. 110