In court jails, despite several satisfactory observations, the Contrôleur général regrets the continued existence of poorly maintained and often very small rooms, which does not contribute to appeasing the detainees, as well as that of washrooms that do not allow maintaining the privacy of those who use them and which are sometimes not sufficiently clean. Even worse, the absence of washrooms in the jails sometimes forces the detainee to travel to common washrooms along with his/her escort. Hygiene is not always maintained in these places. This situation must be improved. 6.2 The hierarchical visit of places of deprivation of liberty and the conditions of execution of confinement must be developed; in this respect, the appointing of officers specifically in charge of ensuring this and a satisfactory traceability are two ways through which this can be ensured In the national police, the police custody officer is in charge of ensuring the execution of the hierarchical visits conducted on the custody cells; this function will improve the effectiveness of the rights. However, the function is not sufficiently identified and the associated responsibilities have not yet been fully taken into account. Specifically defining the role of the police custody officer in the job descriptions or internal memos and improving the training of the law enforcement officers in their role would allow this function to be better implemented. In the customs department, appointing a referral officer would allow the physical conditions of deprivation of liberty to be taken into account. Generalising such an apparatus does not seem to a very difficult task. In court jails, the frequent absence of occupancy registers or the fact that they are not updated hinders the traceability of inbound persons, the duration of their stay and the enforcement of their rights. Therefore, it is impossible to verify the existence of an effective oversight of the legal and hierarchical authorities concerning the rights of detainees and the condition of the jails. 6.3 A continuous monitoring of people deprived of liberty must be ensured properly in the facilities of the gendarmerie In the gendarmerie services, there is often no night-time surveillance of the persons in custody: no visual or auditory surveillance is continuously present, and there is no call button, intercom or CCTV system. The gendarmes themselves express their uneasiness with this situation, since they can be held personally responsible for this source of concern. The only truly satisfactory formula that could guarantee the safety of the persons and protect the responsibility of the law enforcement officers is to place the persons in custody in facilities that are continuously under surveillance. In the meanwhile, the traceability of the nocturnal surveillance measures of people in custody must be systematically ensured, as provided by the inconsistently applied directives of the Central administration of the French national gendarmerie (DGGN). 6.4 Transporting people deprived of liberty in public areas or in places open to the public must be organised such that the former are not exposed to the sight of third parties Within the facilities for the deprivation of liberty, as well as in the area used to access them, separate routes must be used every time possible to ensure that the captives do not encounter the public. 37