Introduction The mission given to the Contrôleur général des lieux de privation de liberté (CGLPL) by the law of 2007 setting up the French National Preventive Mechanism,2 is to ensure protection of all fundamental rights for persons deprived of their liberty, whether they are in prison, police custody (garde à vue), an immigration detention centre, the cell of a courthouse, a mental health institution, a juvenile detention centre, or in any other place where people are imprisoned upon the decision of a judge or other administrative authority. Amongst the powers this law gives the contrôle général, is the right to provide the government with opinions or recommendations. Significantly, after announcing it beforehand, these opinions or recommendations can then be published in the Journal officiel de la République française. During the six-year mandate of the first Contrôleur général, thirty-six opinions or recommendations were published. This represents on average one every two months. These published views complement or illustrate the other means of expression (and of providing further recommendations) of the National Preventive Mechanism, including the reports drafted after every visit, as well as its annual reports. Such reports are typically taken up and considered by the national press. Experience leads us to distinguish between opinions which do not refer to any particular place of deprivation of liberty, but are focused on a certain issue (a group of people: foreigners, LGBTI; a procedure: the use of CCTV; or an object: mail, telephone); and recommendations which ensue from the visit of one or several places of detention. The law also makes it possible to publish urgent recommendations, in case of serious violations of fundamental rights. This procedure has been used four times. 2 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 3