not kept with any regularity and it is difficult for lawyers to come when requested because of the unit's remoteness. And yet, in other units, different practices are observed which are more respectful of fundamental rights. Accordingly, in one brigade community, only the brigade of the community's headquarters takes people into custody. The facilities are new, perfectly equipped for their purpose with a working shower, a proper office for a lawyer and an office that is perfectly fitted out for hearings. A system for medical checkups at the hospital, which can be reached in just a few minutes, is also planned. In another département, four cells are grouped together along the same corridor and can be used by several units – all based in the same station, and each with their own custody register. Lastly, in the Parisian region, the decision was made to place people being held in custody under the surveillance of the national police when the measure needs to be extended through the night, in the same way as the judicial customs department does, which allows for round -the-clock surveillance. As indicated in Chapter 3 of this report, places of deprivation of liberty that are part of the gendarmerie are now organised at three levels: the first level corresponds to daytime use, the second to mostly night-time surveillance and the third applies to additional cells, created depending on the available means, in very busy units. The CGLPL can only recommend, therefore, that these improvements be carried out across the board and that people in custody no longer be left without surveillance in gendarmerie facilities. People in custody must no longer be kept overnight in gendarmerie units that are not equipped to be able to provide the necessary conditions for acceptable accommodation and adequate surveillance. Instead, they must be accommodated in a police or gendarmerie service with round-the-clock surveillance. 6.1.2 The pressure that the busiest police services are under can lead to violations in fundamental rights. In national police facilities, and above all in Paris and its wider region where the CGLPL carried out a large part of its activity in 2016, the respect of rights is above all being undermined by units being stretched to breaking point. There are often too many people to a cell, given the space available, dirty blankets are handed out to them (we even saw disposable blankets reused until they were completely worn out) and hearings are held in crowded facilities offering no confidentiality – including where minors are concerned. Surveillance of people placed in cells is sometimes inadequate because of the lack of CCTV cameras and the sheer amount of other work security officers need to be attending to. In one station where these very conditions have been observed, there is one renovated cell which is up to standard; it is significant to note that this cell is locally referred to as the "VIP cell". In services struggling under such pressure, the facilities – even recent ones – go downhill rapidly without the necessary means for keeping them in good condition. When there are washing facilities for use by individuals in custody, in most cases they are unfit for use or even locked – either because they have not been cleaned properly or because there are no washing products in them. The pressures on these services in terms of workload have an impact on the respect of rights. Accordingly, one service was inspected where the rights are notified in a corridor where a person is attached to a bench, another where, because the Vigipirate national security plan required a back door to be locked, people who are handcuffed now have to come through the main entrance, and a station where people placed in custody are persuaded not to call a lawyer to as "not to prolong the procedure". 33