with wire mesh. Some of them are covered with bars surmounted with expanded metal and concertina wire. In general, exercise yards do not offer any horizontal views. Most of the yards lack any facilities: shelter, bench, water tap, urinal; in some cases the angle formed between parts of buildings is used by way of an exercise yard. The ground is in general covered in concrete. One inspection report recalls an exercise yard thus: “The whole is exclusively composed of stone and metal”. At the time of its inspections in France in 2006, the CPT described the exercise yards of the long-stay wing of one prison as being “like cages used for walking areas”. The inspection conducted in this same institution in 2012 by the Contrôleur général found the situation unchanged. Conditions of hygiene are very different from one place to another, in particular with regard to the state of cleanliness of the showers. The privacy of persons is not everywhere respected since, in at least two institutions inspected in 2012, the door of the shower room had a window in it, rendering the person inside visible from the corridor. In most cases, persons placed in punishment cells are subject to the same regime as persons in ordinary detention and can only have the benefit of three showers per week. However, the issues generally raised with regard to ordinary detention – shortage of shower rooms, lack of available time on the part of staff – do not in general apply to punishment wings; moreover certain institutions allow persons placed in solitary confinement and in punishment cells to have access to showers every day, after the exercise period in particular. As already stated, punishment cells are not equipped with a piece of furniture for storing personal linen. Personal possessions are sometimes stored in locked premises, of which the key is in the possession of the staff, without the prisoner having access thereto. Certain institutions have installed a cupboard at the door of each cell from which prisoners can, in parti cular, take a warm item of clothing before going out for an exercise period. Elsewhere, personal items may be piled in cardboard boxes. It was ascertained that old practices are still in use here and there, such as the prohibition on wearing shoes, which are then left in front of the door of each punishment cell. The maintenance of family connections and relations with the outside were taken into account in the Prisons Act and its implementing regulations. However, the principle according to which no restrictions should be placed upon the right to correspondence would be better guaranteed if letter boxes were everywhere installed in punishment wings. Access to the telephone is more limited: In principle it is not possible for prisoners to call family and friends more than once a week, for a duration of twenty minutes (ten minutes in one institution inspected), with the exception of communication with their lawyers and what are referred to as “humanitarian” numbers. For this purpose, prior registration with the warder for the next day is sometimes compulsory. The location of the telephone may also be problematic: in one institution inspected, the only telephone available for the punishment and solitary confinement wings was installed in a room reserved for interviews with lawyers and was therefore only accessible in a sporadic manner; in others, it was in the corridor of the wing itself, to the detriment of the confidentiality of conversations, something which moreover poses problems of organisation for prison staff. One visit per week is authorised from family and friends. In general it takes place in a visiting room without a partition divider. In one institution inspected, persons who do not receive visits from family and friends may see a prison visitor, a fact which signifies the existence 123