Safeguards for irregular migrants deprived of their liberty 79. Conditions of detention for irregular migrants should reflect the nature of their deprivation of liberty, with limited restrictions in place and a varied regime of activities. For example, detained irregular migrants should have every opportunity to remain in meaningful contact with the outside world (including frequent opportunities to make telephone calls and receive visits) and should be restricted in their freedom of movement within the detention facility as little as possible. Even when conditions of detention in prisons meet these requirements – and this is certainly not always the case – the CPT considers the detention of irregular migrants in a prison environment to be fundamentally flawed, for the reasons indicated above. 80. More generally, in certain countries, authorities routinely resort to administrative detention of irregular migrants pending deportation, sometimes with no time limitation or judicial review. It is clear that automatic administrative detention under such conditions runs the risk of being in contradiction with, inter alia, the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. In the CPT’s view, States should be selective when exercising their power to deprive irregular migrants of their liberty; detention should only be resorted to after a careful examination of each individual case. Basic rights at the initial stages of deprivation of liberty 81. The CPT considers that detained irregular migrants should, from the very outset of their deprivation of liberty, enjoy three basic rights, in the same way as other categories of detained persons. These rights are: (1) to have access to a lawyer, (2) to have access to a medical doctor, and (3) to be able to inform a relative or third party of one’s choice about the detention measure. 82. The right of access to a lawyer should include the right to talk with a lawyer in private, as well as to have access to legal advice for issues related to residence, detention and deportation. This implies that when irregular migrants are not in a position to appoint and pay for a lawyer themselves, they should benefit from access to legal aid. Further, all newly arrived detainees should be promptly examined by a doctor or by a fully-qualified nurse reporting to a doctor. The right of access to a doctor should include the right – if an irregular migrant so wishes – to be examined by a doctor of his/her choice; however, the detainee might be expected to meet the cost of such an examination. Notifying a relative or third party of one’s choice about the detention measure is greatly facilitated if irregular migrants are allowed to keep their mobile phones during deprivation of liberty or at least to have access to them. 83. In addition to these three basic rights, international treaties recognise the right of a detained irregular migrant to ask for consular assistance. However, as not all irregular migrants may wish to contact their national authorities, the exercise of this right must be left to the person concerned. 39