Access to services promoting the provision of information and knowledge of rights (public letter writer, interpreter, legal information and advice access points, the French national employment agency (Pôle emploi) etc.) sometimes presents difficulties, in particular when requests for meetings have to be made formal in writing and/or be passed on by intermediaries 82. As a pre-requirement for access to these services, information concerning the existence thereof and the procedures for making use of them needs to be accessible to all. The CGLPL has ascertained that the resources for this purpose, both in human terms (public letter writer, persons having studied at university etc.) and with regard to information and the law (local and national press, legal codes, “Prisoner’s Handbook” (Guide du prisonnier) etc.) are in general gathered together in prison libraries. The CGLPL therefore recommends free access to these premises. In the interests of autonomy, the CGLPL also recommends that the information useful to prisoners should be incorporated in the documents handed over to new arrivals and that it should be displayed in prison in several languages, as well as being provided orally at the time of “new arrivals” interviews, and in the course of hearings with non-French-speaking and illiterate persons in prison. It would also be appropriate for the names of the main actors of the institution (director, head of the health unit, etc.) and the contact details of certain local and national actors (public prosecutor at the court of first instance, chairperson of the Bar, Regional Health Agency, CGLPL etc.) to be displayed in prison, as is already the case in certain institutions. Moreover, situations are regularly brought to the attention of the CGLPL concerning persons encountering difficulties in obtaining copies of documents of all kinds (letters, medical certificates etc.). These difficulties are due, in particular, to the confidentiality of the documents to be copied (it not being possible, for this reason, for them to be entrusted to third parties) and/or to the fact that the persons have to apply for the debiting of the sum, corresponding to the number of copies that they wish to make, from their personal account. A number of valuable initiatives have been observed in prisons: for example, the possibility of purchasing a magnetic debit card enabling a pre-determined number of photocopies to be made using a photocopier freely accessible in the library. The CGLPL considers that this initiative constitutes a good practice, which should be extended. *** In order to promote personal autonomy, the first requirement therefore seems to be the assessment of an individual’s degree of autonomy on their arrival in prison, and adaptation of the inherent constraints of their imprisonment (surveillance, freedom of movement, access to objects and services etc.) to their profile (risk of commission of acts of violence and vulnerability, as well as level of autonomy). Assessments of this kind could be made within the framework of “new arrivals” interviews, and within the framework of the person’s sentence enforcement programme in the course of their imprisonment. Such measures would enable personalisation of the practical details of imprisonment, according to each individual’s personality and needs and, therefore, optimisation of the available human and material resources. Indeed, if the most autonomous persons were placed in the position of being able to carry out the actions necessary for their daily life, or for their preparation for release, on their own initiative, the prison and medical staff would usefully be able to devote more time and energy to dealing with persons lacking such abilities. 82 The question of the processing of applications and the channels thereof is addressed in the corresponding section of this Annual Report. 104