the two young offenders’ institutions of Hendaye and Pionsat prove that this is in no way true. In this case, it was the manner in which children deprived of liberty were treated which constituted a serious violation of their rights. The right to safety and health and the right to education. These rights are fully recognised by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which France has signed and ratified. The institution in Hendaye, established beside the Bidasoa river, is located in a place to which access is difficult (to the point that one might even wonder whether it was chosen precisely because it constitutes a place of spatial if not of social relegation), exposing the children accommodated to considerable risks connected with the fact that they have to use a dangerous road, which is prohibited to pedestrians, or cross railway lines, which is equally prohibited. The inspectors also discovered stocks of meat which were several months past their use-by date in the kitchens of this institution. For its part, the institution in Pionsat was characterised by the total absence of any educational project, of which the children complained, and by the absence of any teaching staff at the time of the inspection, that is to say a few days before the start of the new school year. The minister of Justice and the Assistant director of the minister of National Education’s private office responded to the emergency recommendations concerning the young offenders’ institutions. With regard to the location of the institution, the minister stated that the solution found consisted of making the premises secure by means of a “very high” grille making access to the railway and to the Bidasoa River impossible. Increase in the institution’s inmate capacity (at the risk of a deterioration in the conditions of accommodation) is not called into question and this is manifested in increased risks of accident73. After having emphasised the management of young offenders’ institutions noted by the minister of Justice, the assistant director of the minister of National Education’s private office, announced the imminent arrival of a primary school teacher at the institution in Pionsat and forecast better leadership of the “system” by means of the creation of a new position for an academic director of national education services (directeur académique des services de l’éducation nationale / “DASEN”) in Puy-de-Dôme, “in charge of files coming under interministerial policy in particular”, at the start of the 2013 school year. As in the case of the emergency recommendations concerning Baumettes prison, the Contrôleur Général’s observations on the young offenders’ institutions had been sent to the minister of Health and Social Affairs. The Contrôleur Général did not receive any response to the sending of either of these sets of observations74. 3. Actions taken in response to the Opinion of 17th January 2013 concerning Unjustified Stays in Units for Difficult Psychiatric Patients On 5th February 2013, the Contrôleur Général des Lieux de Privation de Liberté published an opinion in the Journal Officiel concerning unjustified stays in units for difficult psychiatric patients (UMD). Persons who “present a danger for other persons of such a nature that the necessary treatment, surveillance and security measures can only be implemented in a specific unit” (according to article L.3222-3 of the Public Health Code abrogated as from 30th September 2013) can be committed to specialised psychiatric institutions known as units for difficult psychiatric 73 These future risks are by no means lessened by the fact that there have not been any accidents to be deplored in the course of the last ten years, as stressed in the response. 74 As in the case of the observations sent to other ministers, a period of fifteen days was left to enable responses to be made to the Contrôleur Général. 69