OPINIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE FRENCH CGLPL It is therefore essential that the institutions’ heads plan their working schedule so as to allow sufficient time to be spent within the facility, to meet those prisoners who have requested an interview, to reply to any written requests and, more generally, to have a precise and up-to-date understanding of the prisoners under their responsibility. The Minister of Justice is quite clear on this and has requested that the deputy directors of this particular prison spend more time at the facility. 4/ The exercise yards are places full of risks: threats, racketing, violence, trafficking, projectiles, etc. This was amply demonstrated in the establishment visited by the violent riot that took place on 31st August last, involving some fifteen prisoners. The yards are the ideal place to release all the tensions and frustrations which are all the more intense when prisoners are deprived of any activity. Prison staff never enter these areas at the same time as the prisoners and use video cameras or adjoining cabins to survey the scene. In an establishment where rules and regulations abound, the exercise yards are, paradoxically, places where no rules apply. In a way, they are abandoned to the prisoners to use as they wish, and who treat them as a release from the confinement of their cells and as a sort of market where they can compensate for what they lack. Whenever there is riot or other form of assault, one has to wait until all prisoners have regained their cells before bringing the situation under control. The consequences are threefold: the law of the strongest reigns; serious injuries are commonplace; a significant number of prisoners refuse to go to the exercise yards through fear of assault. And it is far from true that those responsible for such assaults or riots are always punished. This situation needs to be addressed. Protection of the establishment’s personnel is a priority for the Contrôleur général and it is not acceptable that any member of the prison staff, whoever he may be, be exposed to unreasonable risks. But re-taking control of the exercise yards, which can only be achieved over the long haul, must be an objective that the prisons administration should set itself. Progressively, in specific circumstances and in certain establishments, warders in sufficient numbers must be able to mingle with prisoners in the yards, as in all other areas of the prison, until this can be achieved in all establishments and in all circumstances. The exercise yard must become what it was designed for - a place for relaxation, for physical exercise and socialising or the simple possibility of remaining alone. 12