placements, without any (partial or complete) suspension of punishment, placements pending inquiry and hearing therefore only taking place in less than one fifth of cases. Generally speaking, the chairs of disciplinary committees appear attentive as far as compliance with the legal framework is concerned and aware of their responsibility in this regard. Thus, in the presence of the inspectors during a hearing, the chair of one disciplinary committee, the director of a remand prison of medium dimensions, found that it was not possible to prove that a placement in a punishment cell pending inquiry and hearing had been necessary in order to bring the incident to an end or to maintain internal order within the institution, since it had occurred more than 2 hours and 40 minutes after the commission of the act. The person was acquitted on the grounds that the placement in a punishment cell pending inquiry and hearing was unlawful. On the other hand, in another institution it appeared that, in the mind of the managers, cases of placement pending inquiry and hearing did not exclusively correspond to criteria fixed by the law, but also came within the scope of other considerations. Thus, a memorandum, signed by the director of one institution recalled to members of the middle-ranking managerial staff (graded officers) that power to impose placements pending inquiry and hearing was delegated to them and lamented the fact that this power was not used in response to certain incidents having “an impact both on the inmate population, creating a sense of impunity, as well as on the staff who do not feel supported”. Handcuffs – which numerous senior prison officers always carry on their belts in most institutions – are frequently used when placing prisoners in punishment wings pending inquiry and hearing. On the other hand, a procedure for recording such measures has still not been put in place and the interregional department of prison services is not everywhere informed immediately, or even subsequently, of the use of means of physical restraint, as is nevertheless provided for under prison regulations. The conditions under which prisoners are placed in punishment wings pending inquiry and hearing – “being put in the cooler” – is a recurrent subject in the inspectors’ interviews with prisoners, who sometimes describe the use of brutal or even violent methods. Certain actions take place after staff have put on protective clothing, with helmets and shields. Some institutions have adopted the practice of filming all actions of this nature, with a view to control and education within the framework of training. 2.1.5 Confinement and the procedures thereof Confinement involves the placement of prisoners in ordinary cells, which they have to occupy alone, for the same period of time as for punishment cell sanctions. Confinement can be enforced in the cell of the person concerned, in cases where they already occupy it on their own; this applies for persons placed in solitary confinement. As already stated, disciplinary confinement is pronounced relatively rarely. In remand prisons, this is explained by the situation of overcrowding, which makes it difficult to find a cell in which to enforce this sanction. Moreover, it may appear paradoxical that prisoners are not able to have the benefit of the right to be placed in an individual cell – as provided for by law – except within the framework of the enforcement of disciplinary measures… Certain institutions reserve one or several cells for confinement within a single sector. In one institution inspected, it was explained that the decision to create clearly identified confinement cells had been taken following a certain number of mistakes committed by floor 117