The right to consult a doctor - and not a doctor of their choice - is implemented via a
medical service set up within the CRAs. Somatic medical availability in the strict sense is generally
limited to half a day, daily from Monday to Friday. The rest of the time, detainees are seen by
nursing staff. The investigators found that access to the medical department was, within some
CRAs limited to one half hour per day and subject to a police filter, from the application being
forwarded and assessment of their case. Intervention by psychiatrists or psychologists is only very
rarely organised via an agreement and detainees' autonomy is even further reduced in this area.
The question is important as, in addition to immediate healthcare, it can have an impact in
revealing an illness whose treatment is not available in the country of deportation, which is a
criterion liable to be an obstacle to deportation. 127
The CGLPL renews its recommendation in relation to updating the circular dated
7th December 1999 issued by the Ministry of the Interior and Health relating to healthcare
for detainees: "The circular should, in particular, provide details that detainees so wishing
may speak directly to healthcare providers without having recourse to an intermediary and
that letterboxes should be set up, that a health consultation should be systematically set in
place upon arrival at the centre by detainees both to enable possible contagious illnesses to
be detected and to carry out a health check and enable an appropriate care regime to be set
up, including by specialists". 128
Detainees have some freedom of circulation within a centre subject to restrictions
provided for by internal regulations.
These define accessible areas as well as opening times; they give the centre manager the
powers to make any provision such as to guarantee security and public order including physically
separating from other detainees any person initiating a public order problem or problems for
personal safety of others. The CRAs usually have a room known as a "separation room"
comprising a bed and sanitary arrangements (wash basin, tap and WC); detainees are locked up
there and placed under surveillance 129
On a number of occasions, regrettable practices have been brought to the
attention of the CGLPL of persons clearly suffering from behavioural
problems being separated for a number of days.
The CGLPL has also been notified about persons who, because they have been separated
have not been able to claim their rights. It would therefore appear essential that the body
responsible for legal assistance be notified of such a decision and be able, as appropriate, to make
provisions such as to enable the person to effectively exercise their rights in particular where they
have already started these procedures.
As a result of numerous observations made by the CGLPL, the Ministry of Immigration
published a circular dated 11th June 2010 relating to "standardising practices in force in CRAs".
These require that measures taken in relation to isolation be entered in the detention register
mentioning the grounds, the date and times of the start and end of these measures; they provide
that the State Prosecutor is advised immediately of this measure.
The CGLPL recalls that the procedures and the length of placing in isolation should be
defined in the regulatory part of the CESEDA. Moreover these measures should be set out
in a special, separate register specifying - in addition to the grounds, the times of the start
127
Please see Article 313-11 of the CESEDA.
Annual Report of the Contrôleur Général for 2012: Healthcare for detainees, p. 300
129
The room is generally placed under video surveillance except for the washing and WC area.
128
149
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents