distributing internal correspondence from one wing to another or within the same wing without
the detainees being forced to postmark all of their mail, as well as carrying out an oversight of the
correspondence by the prison administration, in accordance with the regulations in force.
A circular and a notice addressed to the prison population were drafted to indicate that the
detainees are no longer required to postmark internal correspondence when it is addressed to a
detainee within the same institution.
The terms of execution of full-body searches
In the absence of a room dedicated for searches in the infirmary of a remand prison, the Contrôleur
général was informed that the room used for this purpose is actually the waiting room for the
hearings and medical examinations, which has a window. Pursuant to the amended Law dated 30
October 2007, the Contrôleur général recommended that this window be made opaque so that the
searches conducted in this room are executed in conditions that preserve the privacy of the
detainees and that the room should be cleaned regularly so that the hygiene conditions are
satisfactory.
The director of the institution, in response to the recommendations given by the
Contrôleur général, decided via a circular that this room should no longer be used to carry out fullbody searches, but only as a waiting room before the medical examinations that are conducted in
the health block of the institution. Two statutory rooms for searches were renovated on the ground
floor of both buildings; in addition, they were equipped with the furniture mentioned in the circular
from the prison administration department, dated 15 November 2013.
The attention of the CGLPL was drawn to the use of unsuitable rooms, in a prison, for
executing full-body searches of detainees when the cells were being searched; these rooms were a
maintenance room and a room for storing dustbins. It was specified that the dustbins were
removed when the room was used to conduct a full-body search. After having collected the
contradictory observations of the director of the prison, the Contrôleur général deemed, with
respect to the dignity of the detainees, that it was not acceptable for them to be locked up and
searched in a room used to store dustbins, irrespective of whether or not the dustbin was removed
beforehand. On this basis, she therefore recommended that a room should be dedicated to holding
detainees while their cells are searched. During the second visit to this institution, the inspectors
observed that the recommendation had been taken into account. In fact, it was noted during the
visit that the rooms were being renovated9 before being permanently allocated to conducting
searches. The buildings have a search room on each floor, in addition to a room located on the
ground floor, all of which are correctly furnished.
The limiting of the number of permissions to leave
The Contrôleur général was informed of the situation of a detainee who could benefit from two
types of permissions to leave: permissions for family-related outings to meet with his family and a
permission to leave for participating in a sports activity organised by the prison administration.
Nevertheless, a permission to leave for maintaining family bonds was refused on the grounds that
he had “exhausted his rights to leave permits” and another was granted to him “as an exception”,
since he was “unaware that his participation in a sports activity organised by the prison
administration would deprive him of family outings”.
In order to better understand the circumstances in which the detainees can benefit from
permissions to leave, the Contrôleur général wished to obtain specifications on what appears to be
a custom: on the one hand, the limiting of the number of permissions to leave for family reasons;
9
Still, in a few of these rooms, there was no flooring and/or a chair or a coat hook on which the detainee can place his
effects, with paper covering the openings. The works were still in progress.
60
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents