Generally speaking, patients therefore either have to use the telephone of the unit at authorised times, or phone points installed in the corridors of institutions. This results in conditions which do not enable confidentiality and respect for privacy. This issue is all the more sensitive insofar as it does not enable the required strict confidentiality with lawyers, within the framework of preparation for hearings before the JLD. To these obstacles are added difficulties linked to material vagaries: absence of sale of telephone cards required by the apparatuses, or restriction of times at which calls may be made. In one hospital visited, the internal rules and regulations thus provide that “calls are made between 7 and 8 p.m.” and that “the time is limited to 5 minutes in order to avoid saturation of the line”. For families, the possibility of contacting hospitalised close relations is also unpredictable, since they have to call the collective card-operated phone and the receiver may be picked up by any patient, without passing the call on to the person concerned. The CGLPL recommends that measures should be undertaken in order to protect the confidentiality of telephone conversations and provide decent visiting conditions for families. Reflection should be undertaken concerning the possibility of authorising patients to use or even keep their mobile phones in their rooms. The Right to Send and Receive Letters The right to send and receive letters is not subject to any restrictions, according to the meaning of article L. 3211-3 of the Public Health Code. The inspectors did not ascertain any particular difficulties in the sending and receipt of letters. Conversely, medical decisions involving the taking away of items such as paper supplies (pens in seclusion rooms in particular), pose the question of balance between protection of the patient and medical staff and respect for fundamental rights. In this case, once again, the CGLPL considers that decisions of this kind should be personalised, justified and regularly reassessed by the medical professionals. Finally, although strictly speaking the confidentiality of letters is respected, the inspectors ascertained that parcels were opened in order to note their contents, at best in the presence of the addressee. IT and Internet Access Similarly, access to IT and the Internet cannot be subject to general rules applicable to all without personalisation. In this case, once again, practices are diverse and vary from one unit to the next. In some institutions, when patients have laptop computers in their possession at the time of their arrival, the latter are taken away and may be provisionally handed back on a case-by-case basis; in others, patients are not authorised to have computers. Within one UMD in the South of France, patients do not have Internet access, for reasons involving their protection and security. At the time of the visit, some of them regretted being unable to use a tool of this kind, both for the maintenance of their family ties and in order to prepare for their release. Nevertheless, the CGLPL noted practices that it would be worthwhile copying and putting to good use. Thus, in the two sectors of a Paris Hospital, the use of laptop computers may be authorised for a “reasonable” limited length of time. The patients sign a discharge form 137