Urgent recommendations of 30th November 201152 concerning the Nouméa prison 1/ As an exception to the standard provisions of the law under which the Contrôleur général des lieux de privation de liberté (CGLPL) exercises his functions, the legislator has provided, in §2 of article 9 of the law of 30th October 2007, an emergency procedure as follows: “If the Contrôleur général des lieux de privation de liberté is aware of any serious violation of the fundamental rights of persons deprived of their liberty, he may immediately communicate his findings to the appropriate authorities, giving them a date by which they must respond and, at this date, he may determine whether the said violations have ceased“. If he deems it necessary, he may “immediately render public the contents of his findings and the responses received”.53 The contrôle général has not misused this procedure. Up to the present, in urgent cases, concerning specific individuals, efforts have been made to stop such serious violations of fundamental rights uncovered during visits by dealing directly with the local authorities concerned. 2/ What was observed during a surprise visit by four inspectors to Nouméa prison, called Camp Est, in New Caledonia,54 from Tuesday 11th to Monday 17th October 2011, is a clear example, by its extent, of a serious violation of the fundamental rights of a significant number of people. The Contrôleur Général thus deemed it appropriate to invoke the above-mentioned emergency procedure and, in consequence, sent his findings to the Ministry of Justice in a letter dated 25th October 2011. The Ministry was asked to respond with its observations by 18th November of the same year, thus allowing a period of slightly more than three weeks. These observations were received on 2nd December, some fifteen days after the deadline fixed. The Contrôleur Général Published in the Journal Officiel de la République française of 6th December 2011, text n°72. 53 Emergency procedure under §2 of article 9 of the French law n°2007-1545 of 30 th October 2007 establishing a Contrôleur général des lieux de privation de liberté: http://www.cglpl.fr/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/Loi_CGLPL_EUK-v.pdf 54 Overseas territory for which the Contrôle général has jurisdiction according to article 16 of the law of 30 th October 2007 as well as the 1st§ of article 6-2 of the modified organic law n°99-209 of 19th March 1999. 52 112