the start of their imprisonment and take any fixed costs still chargeable to the beneficiary (for example the payment of rent) into account. A circular was published on 30th July 2013 (dated at the 11th) under the double stamp of the Directorate-General for Social Cohesion (Direction Générale de la Cohésion Sociale) and the prisons administration department78. It is concerned with the twin issues of payment of RSA79 income-related benefit and AAH to prisoners. It replaces a previous circular dated 30th July 2012, which proved to be short-lived. Its basic purpose is to specify the rules for the payment of these two benefits in case of reduced sentencing decisions by judges responsible for the execution of sentences and to provide that, in case of partial release, electronic tagging or release on parole etc., the whole of the person’s entitlements are restored. In addition, it provides for better coordination between the Prison Service for Rehabilitation and Probation (SPIP) which managers prisoners’ applications and the social security bodies by which the benefits are paid, by means of the appointment of a suitable person within the latter. This clarifies important points but does not provide a response to the questions raised in the Report. In particular, with regard to the role of doctors practicing in prison in the necessary assessment of the prisoner’s condition prior to the granting of entitlement to disablement benefits; with regard also to a smaller reduction in the amount of benefits if prisoners have standing costs outside. On this point, it is even contrary which prevails, since although it is recalled that the beneficiary can receive an “income supplement” for charges such as rents, it is specified that the payment of this supplement also comes to an end after a period which is however brought up to sixty days (even though the charge justifying the granting thereof has been officially established and remains unchanged). The only positive element of this evaluation is that, for the determination of whether persons suffering from disabilities are subject to severe and long-term limitation of their employability (RSDAE / restriction sévère et durable à l’emploi), the circumstance of whether they are granted employment in the course of their imprisonment is not taken into account: due to the modesty of the tasks thus granted they should not be confused with employment “outside”. 4.5 Degrading Treatment of Transsexual Prisoners On 6th December 2012, the Contrôleur Général referred the case of a transsexual prisoner, who had expressed a desire to change their sexual identity since 2005, to the director of the prisons administration department. At the end of a long course of treatment, the person was refused the final sex change operation. For all that, their physical appearance corresponds to their desired sex, thanks in particular to having long followed a course of hormone replacement therapy in prison and the wearing of suitable clothing. This prisoner was also granted the right to officially change their first name by the civil courts. The director of the institution in which this person is accommodated had given permission for the latter to be searched, in particular at the time of removals from prison in order to go to hospital, by persons of the sex with which the prisoner identifies rather than sex of birth, which is not 78 Circul. GGCS/SD1C/DAP/2013/203 of 11th July 2013. Revenu de solidarité active income-related benefit defined under articles L. 262-1 et seq. of the Social Action and Family Code (Code de l’action sociale et des familles). 79 73