execution of prison real estate programmes and the impact thereof as far as compliance with the objective of individual cell placement is concerned. It proposed a minor legislative amendment of the texts in order to facilitate reduced sentencing on the part of the judge responsible for the execution of sentences before imprisonment and, more generally, restriction of immediate summary trials, as well as the promotion of community service sentences (including when the defendant is absent from their trial but represented by a lawyer). It recommended that this plan should be exercised under the twofold control of Parliament and the CGLPL. The deputies finally voted in favour of an amendment to the Supplementary Budget Bill (PLFR / projet de loi de finances rectificative) for 2014, validating the principle of a new moratorium until the end of 2019. The Contrôle Général will pay close attention to these developments, persuaded that prison overcrowding and the consequences thereof, as broadly set out in its various different Opinions, are entirely in contradiction with prisoners’ rights. The CGLPL once again recalls the recommendations of the statutory and legislative, and national and international texts on the issue of individual cell placement. 1.4 Actions taken in response to the Opinion of 9th May 2014 concerning the situation of Foreign Prisoners Following the referral of cases concerning the situation of prisoners of Somalian nationality, the Contrôleur général des lieux de privation de liberté conducted an inquiry in several prisons in Île-de-France. A second inquiry into the procedures for handling prisoners of foreign nationality was conducted in the remand prison of Villepinte. The Contrôleur Général published an Opinion in the Journal Officiel of 3rd June 2014 concerning the situation of foreign prisoners. On 1st January 2014, 18.5% of the 77,883 persons imprisoned were of foreign nationality. The disproportionate number of foreigners in prison, as compared with the number of foreigners in the French population (6%), may be explained by three factors: the existence of offences concerning entry and residence of foreigners, institutional practices arising from the law and courts, and the fact that a large proportion of the foreign population is composed of persons belonging to the most disadvantaged social categories, which are over-represented in prison. In its Opinion of 9th May 2014, the CGLPL set out the special difficulties encountered by foreign prisoners for which actions needed to be undertaken: 24 - lack of command of the French language which constitutes a handicap, making it impossible to be informed of the rights to which one is entitled; absence of organisation of a regular presence of professional interpreters; - right to respect for private and family life organised under conditions different from those provided for French prisoners: very great difficulty in access to telephone for reasons of cost and different time zones, content of letters drafted in a foreign language which may lead to them not being sent due to absence of translation, visits rarely granted in view of language difficulties and distance of visitors; - right to work in prison not always respected (foreigners whose residence papers are not in order are often refused this right, since administrative authorisations and definitive social security numbers are sometimes demanded, despite the fact that