due procedure and inadequate information provided to be able to assist prisoners in exercising their right to vote. In its 2013 annual report, the CGLPL had already highlighted the difficulties encountered by prisoners in guaranteeing their effective exercise of the right to vote, and recommended "setting up a procedure enabling people placed in penal institutions to properly exercise their right to vote. This encompasses the facilitated issuance of identity documents, information provided sufficiently ahead of time, a special permission to leave protocol and a possible relaxing in the proxy rules, guaranteed by the registry". Discussions with the Ministry of Justice addressed the exercise of the right to vote by proxy, the procedure for electing domicile at the penal institution, the arrangements for allowing the prisoner appointing a proxy to meet his/her proxy at the penal institution, exercise of the right to vote by benefiting from permission to leave, awareness-raising and information measures for prisoners about the right to vote, and the installation of polling stations in detention. The Chief Inspector was interested to note that a survey was due to be launched to list the number of elections of domicile carried out and any difficulties encountered in this framework. She wished to know what the results were, as well as the number of permissions to leave granted during the most recent presidential and legislative elections of 2017. Regarding the procedure for appointing proxies (via associations and voters of the relevant municipality) and organising their visit to the penal institution, in her response the Minister of Justice claims not to have information on this subject. Because the Chief Inspector's attention was once again drawn to the fact that some prisoners were unable to meet their proxy at the penal institution during the last presidential and legislative elections, she reiterated that this preliminary meeting is nevertheless essential to be able to build the necessary trust between a voter and his or her proxy. Following on from the recommendations issued in 2013, given that the installation of polling stations in penal institutions would likely promote turnout at the polls among prisoners, the CGLPL wished to know what kind of discussions have been initiated by the Ministry to make such a development possible. In response, the Minister maintained that this voting option would require a certain number of legislative and regulatory provisions to be amended, and generate considerable organisational pressures for penal institutions. The Minister explained he had conducted an analysis with the stakeholders concerned on the question of setting up a pilot voting scheme in detention in one or more penal institutions, but in light of the legal and physical constraints, this pilot scheme never got off the ground. The Chief Inspector sets great store by the effective exercise of the right to vote by prisoners, and therefore asked for more details on this pilot scheme. In his answer, the Minister of Justice mentioned the possibility of amending the Prison Act of 24 November 2009, adding a new provision which enables prisoners to exercise their right to vote by post in a sealed envelope, along the same lines as the elections of MPs representing French citizens abroad, under Article L.330-13 of the Electoral Code. The Chief Inspector voiced approval of such an amendment, insofar as this voting option – easier and more accessible – would enable more prisoners to exercise their right to vote. She therefore wanted to hear what the current Minister of Justice's observations were on this subject. 2.1.2 The occupancy rate in institutions receiving children in the Parisian region and the rise in the number of detained children Following a report and as part of work on the thematic report on prison overcrowding, the Chief Inspector called on the Prison Administration Director for his observations on the high occupancy rates in penal institutions receiving children in the Parisian region and the significant rise in 2016 and 2017 in the number of detained juveniles. The number of detained juveniles rose from 775 on 1 June 2016 to 851 on 1 June 2017. She drew his attention to the disastrous consequences of prison 83