Opinion of 24th February 201137 concerning the practice of worship in places of deprivation of liberty 1/ The practice of worship in places of deprivation of liberty must of course be understood in accordance with the principle of secularism, derived from Article  1 of the French Constitution. As we know, this principle is based on the State not recognising any particular form of worship; another of its effects is to prohibit “any person from using their religious beliefs as a pretext to avoid following the common rules governing relations between the public authorities and private individuals” (Constitutional Council, n°2004-505 DC of 19th November 2004, recital 18). The principle of secularism, which guarantees freedom of worship, has to be implemented, as indicated by Article 1 of the Law of 9th December 1905,38 subject to public order imperatives, the safeguarding of which is an objective of constitutional value. The scope of secularism and of freedom of conscience, a fundamental principle recognised by the laws of the French Republic (see also ECHR, 25th May 1993, Kokinakkis v. Greece, section 30), neither disappear nor are even diminished in custodial establishments. This point is made, in respect of prisons, by the Law of 24th November 2009, Article 2639 of which provides that “detainees are entitled to enjoy freedom of thought, conscience and religion. They may practise the religion of their choice…”. On the other hand, the application of both principles must be reconciled with more acute needs relating to public order (as the Penitentiary Law also points out) and given the particular nature of these places, i.e. the fact that it is impossible for those held there to leave. This is why Article 2 of the Law of 9th December 1905 expressly Published in the Journal Officiel de la République française of 17th April 2011, text n°13. 38 French law of 9th December 1905 on the separation of the Churches and the State: http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000508749 (in French). 39 French penitentiary law n°2009-1436 of 24th November 2009: http://www. legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000021312171&categorieLien =id (in French). 37 85