A/64/215 that takes into account to the greatest extent possible the individual needs of every prisoner (principle of individualized treatment) and is tailored to their individual sentence and rehabilitation plan. 11 52. One of the rights most restricted by the rules and practice of prison life is the right to privacy (art. 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights). It is obvious that detainees cannot enjoy the same degree of privacy, including the protection of their family life, sexuality, home and correspondence, as persons living in liberty. On the other hand, the protection of a certain minimum space of privacy is necessary for an individual’s autonomy, which is at the heart of human dignity. For many detainees, the lack of privacy is much more difficult to tolerate than the restrictions of certain other rights. The principle of proportionality, which needs to be applied in order to assess whether interferences with the right to privacy are arbitrary and therefore prohibited by article 17 and similar provisions in regional human rights treaties, requires prison authorities to consider whether certain restrictions are really necessary to achieve a legitimate purpose, such as maintaining order within a detention facility. If cells are severely overcrowded, not much privacy is left for individual detainees within the cells. Consequently, prison authorities shall compensate for this lack of privacy by allowing more time for exercise in the open air than the one hour per day provided for in rule 21 of the Standard Minimum Rules. As far as possible, detainees should be kept in open facilities where they are allowed to walk around and interact with other detainees during the day. The extensive “re-education” programme that the Special Rapporteur witnessed in Chinese prisons, even in pretrial detention facilities for persons who should enjoy the presumption of innocence, does not leave any room for a detainee’s autonomy and privacy. Most detainees do not even enjoy the right to use a toilet without being watched by others, which is at the heart of one’s right to privacy. Usually, a bucket or a hole in the corner of an overcrowded cell serves this purpose. 53. One of the most important rights and needs of detainees is sufficient contact with the outside world (rules 37-39 of the Standard Minimum Rules). For convicted prisoners, the maintenance and improvement of social relations with family, friends and others is one of the essential requirements for social reintegration into society. In reality, in many countries, such as the post-Soviet countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the right to receive family visits is severely restricted, and these restrictions even form part of the sentence. The longer the term of imprisonment, the stricter the prison regime becomes. In the Republic of Moldova, persons serving a life sentence are kept in their cells for 23 hours a day; in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova, they are even held in solitary confinement. In Mongolia, long-term prisoners are totally isolated from other prisoners and the outside world. Other forms of contact, including correspondence by telephone, are equally restricted and often non-existent for those who cannot afford to pay. Most of these restrictions must be considered as arbitrary interference with the right to privacy. 54. While it is understandable that detainees are not allowed to organize political marches and similar assemblies for reasons of prison security, they do enjoy freedom of religion, expression, information, association and similar freedoms. They shall be kept informed, by whatever means of communication, of outside news (rule 39 of the Standard Minimum Rules) and shall be able to freely discuss any matter, including political issues, subject only to the restrictions necessary for __________________ 11 09-43792 Rule 63, para. 1, of the Standard Minimum Rules; rule 103 of the European Prison Rules. 15