Opinion of 10th January 201133 concerning the use of telephones by persons deprived of liberty 1/ The possibility for a person deprived of liberty to use a telephone to contact their family and administrative bodies is one of the provisions of the right to family life and the right to defence, recognised as fundamental rights, and one of the means of carrying out a number of necessary steps in preparation for release - for prisoners - or departure - for foreigners held in detention centres or in waiting areas. The prison population 2/ That is why for several years now the prisons administration has authorised convicted prisoners to use the telephone, the use of which has gradually become widespread. The Penitentiary law, late in coming into force on this point, now accords the same rights to defendants, subject to authorisation by the judicial authority. In any case, the use of the telephone is naturally subordinate to the requirements of proper order and security. That is notably why conversations are listened to, except where otherwise provided by the regulations. Yet although the principles widen the scope of possibilities for prisoners' links to the outside world and although the contrôle général des lieux de privation de liberté (CGLPL) has noted that, for the most part, official instructions followed along these lines, the practicalities of telephone use should not limit this scope. In light of the observations made during visits of the establishments, several important recommendations have been formulated in this respect. 3/ In the first place, telephones are often installed in exercise yards, or sometimes in activity rooms. The interest of this location can be understood, both to facilitate a certain freedom of use of the telephone by prisoners and to avoid the additional movement of institution staff (closed detention centres). But these advantages are outweighed by the major drawbacks. On the 33 66 Published in the Journal Officiel de la République française of 23rd January 2011, text n°25.