Certain wings have retained older fittings: concrete “furniture” including a bed board, a concrete shelf at the base of the wall, stainless steel squat toilets and a cement block serving as a seat… or as a table, the person then only being able to eat their meals while sitting on their bed. Except in more recent institutions, most cells lack showers, shelves and sometimes electric sockets. Where showers are present, in general they are situated between the security entrance grating and the toilets, making it necessary to step over the latter in order to gain access to them. Showers, unlike toilets, are not visible from the peephole. At the time of inspections in certain institutions, it was ascertained that greater attention had been devoted to fitting out punishment cells on the part of the administration: wall lights have been fitted at the head of the beds; a roll of toilet paper and a small piece of soap are distributed in a regular manner; a procedure is in place organising the placing of cleaning equipment and products at prisoners’ disposal while they clean their cells. Nevertheless, as a general rule, the paint in on the walls is often the worse for wear and covered in a great deal of graffiti; certain cells are strikingly dirty, despite the fact that they are intended to be available to receive persons at any time. The persons encountered frequently declare that they had to clean them from top to bottom on their arrival. Whatever the type of institution, the areas around windows are often full of refuse. They are rarely cleaned. It is increasingly common for inventories and statements of the state of repair of cells to be drawn up in the presence of the parties involved on prisoners’ arrival and departure. In general, these procedures are properly carried out when staff are permanently assigned to the wing. Where such procedures exist, they are often accompanied with an inventory sheet of the cell facilities and of the package of items handed over on arrival in the punishment wing. By way of example, one institution, which opened in 2010, distributed the following items in a net: sleeping (blankets, sheets, pillowcase) and toilet necessaries (towel, flannel), a “kit” of hygiene and cleaning products (shampoo, shower gel, soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, shaving foam, diluted bleach, scouring cream), toilet paper, a serviette and a small radio set. In most of the institutions inspected, plates and cutlery are systematically taken back by staff after meals. Similarly, blades are taken away by prison officers immediately after prisoners have shaved. 2.1.8 The Regime Applied in Punishment Wings Persons placed in punishment cells are allowed at least one hour of exercise per day in an individual yard provided for this purpose. In general, this provision is everywhere respected. The same cannot be said with regard to a “recommendation” made in the circular issued by the director of the prisons administration department cited above, which advocates the “putting in place of at least two exercise periods per day, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon”. In certain institutions in which the same exercise yards are shared by the solitary confinement and punishment wings, only persons in solitary confinement have the benefit of a walk in the morning and in the afternoon. In most institutions, the exercise periods commonly take place in the morning – sometimes very early, between 7 and 8 o’clock in one remand prison inspected – and are sometimes moved to the afternoon, according to circumstances, in particular on days on which disciplinary committee sessions are held. Exercise takes place in yards of an average surface area of between 20 m² and 30 m², usually completely surrounded by walls and totally covered over 122