unable to provide an escort team, then these patients are not brought before the liberty and custody judge. The nursing staff find nothing shocking about this situation, their main demands being to obtain a systematic police escort team when they have to go and pick up a patient in crisis from the prison. In another institution, which is not attached to a long-stay prison, an area referred to as a "prison wing" has been set up. This is closed by a barred entrance and contains two so-called "intensive care" rooms with a directly accessible shower room, a corridor with a window, but no outside area. The patient, always escorted in handcuffs and sometimes restraints, is confined for the whole of his/her stay; s/he cannot use a telephone, does not receive visitors, has no personal belongings and cannot go out for a walk or even to get some fresh air, other than through the window. A radio is placed on the "landing" by the nursing staff, who always work in pairs. Stays can last up to twelve days. Paradoxically, this situation has been observed in a context where, outside of a "prison" setting, the nursing staff are clearly close to patients and concerned about their well-being. In both these cases, as in all those where detained patients are systematically placed in solitary confinement, these patients find themselves deprived of any freedom of movement, normal access to the hospital's activities and treatments and their rights as prisoners. The CGLPL can only reiterate the principles set out in its aforementioned opinion. 1.2.5 Short releases provided for in the Public Health Code seem to be subject to increasingly restrictive policies Article L 3211-11-1 of the Public Health Code provides that "to assist with their healing, rehabilitation or social reintegration or where external procedures are required, patients receiving psychiatric treatment pursuant to Chapters II5 and III6 in this Title or Article 706-135 of the Code of criminal procedure in the form of full-time hospitalisation can benefit from authorisations for short-term leave: 1° In the form of accompanied leave not exceeding 12 hours. [… ] 2° In the form of unaccompanied leave lasting no more than 48 hours." For committals pronounced at the request of a third party or in cases of imminent danger, the authorisation for short-term leave is granted by the host institution director, while for committals pronounced upon decision of a State representative, the latter is competent in this regard. During inspections of mental health facilities and processing of referrals from sectioned psychiatric patients, the CGLPL's attention has been drawn on a number of occasions to the tendency of certain prefectures to refuse to grant patients permission for short-term leave - which is nevertheless necessary for gradually preparing for their discharge. The CGLPL believes that cross-government discussions between the Ministers of the Interior and Health should be held with a view to defining a common doctrine on this point. 1.3 The policy for reducing solitary confinement and restraint practices in mental health facilities Article 72 of the Act of 26 January 2016 on modernising the French health service introduces, within the Public Health Code, Article L.3 222-5-1, which provides that solitary confinement and restraint 5 6 Committal for psychiatric treatment at the request of a third party or in cases of imminent danger. Committal for psychiatric treatment at the request of a representative of the State. 17