In premises in which temperatures may be very cold 91 (or stifling in the summer, in the absence of circulation of air), the management of (foam) mattresses and blankets remains a problem: there are not enough of them 92 and their availability is not always specified. Moreover, blankets are not duly cleaned and their state deters them from being used. The (occasional) use of emergency thermal blankets resolves problems of hygiene, but certainly not the question of sleep: it is impossible to sleep under such blankets. It is also impossible to adapt the dimensions of bed boards to those of mattresses, making the lack of comfort worse 93. However long custody lasts, access to bodily cleanliness remains impossible in the vast majority of cases, except in a few exceptional premises and for certain exceptional cases (homeless persons for example), in the absence of the necessary space, facilities and staff time. Even when facilities of this kind exist, they are not used. In one very new police station in the West of France, three showers had been installed: they are never used and the drain hole gives off a foul smell. Finally the solutions implemented with regard to visits by doctors continue to vary widely and their status is often fragile, in spite of the reform introduced on 27 th December 201094; the principle of doctors visiting police custody facilities should be maintained. This is vital to the dignity of persons and the interests of the service. 2.3.3.3 The Rights of Minors Minors are in general given special attention which, moreover, is in accordance with in the spirit of the requirements of the statutory instrument (ordonnance) of 2nd February 1945. However, police custody facilities have been found in which the specific rights of minors (notification of parents of the police custody decision, medical examination of minors of sixteen years of age) are either ignored or else not recorded, and are therefore unverifiable. The absence of a specific cell for minors in police custody is also relatively common. Although, in many police stations they are placed in the cell closest to the guard-room which, in particular, makes it possible to directly see (or hear) what is happening inside, this is not the case in general. Many police custody facilities, in particular in cities with significant levels of juvenile delinquency, have not been equipped in the necessary manner. Release from police custody also raises problems in the case of minors. Although, very fortunately, police and gendarmes keep minors with them after the end of periods of custody, in order to hand them over directly to their parents, or to persons invested with parental authority (tutors), the conditions of this waiting period are unpredictable. One facility was found in which a minor was waiting handcuffed to a bench in the arrival hall for persons placed in police custody; in another, minors are locked up in a cubby-hole with neither toilet nor ventilation. Although there are naturally concrete difficulties in resolving these kinds of situations, their foreseeable character should prevent unacceptable treatment. 2.3.3.4 The Registers 91 It is to be regretted that, in police stations (though not in gendarmeries), hot drinks are never accorded for breakfast. 92 For example, in one police station inspected, three mattresses for six people. 93 In the course of one inspection, it was noted that the width of the bench (37 cm) obliged the person in police custody to place the mattress on the floor in order to lie down upon it. 94 With regard to this reform, see the contrôle général ’s report for 2011, p. 47-53. 46