Chapter 2 The reports, opinions and recommendations published in 2017 1. Opinion of 22 December 2016 on work and vocational training in penal institutions, published in the Journal officiel (Official Gazette) dated 9 February 2017 The attention of the Contrôleur général des lieux de privation de liberté is drawn at regular intervals to the question of work in detention. In its 2011 annual report, the CGLPL had already criticised its main failings22: low-skilled jobs, insufficient jobs on offer, low pay, payslips that are difficult to make sense of. It had made several recommendations following on from these findings. In light of the lack of progress more than five years later, the Chief Inspector wished to take stock of the practices and problems observed with regard to accessing work in detention, the conditions under which it is carried out, pay, social protection and the demotion procedure, with a view to clarifying the rights and obligations of working prisoners. This opinion sets out the CGLPL's findings from inspection missions carried out in institutions and from referrals, bearing on the few job opportunities available in detention, lack of uniformity concerning the means for accessing work, working conditions that do not comply with the applicable legislation, the low pay of working prisoners, exclusion from ordinary social protection law and misuse of demotion procedures. The CGLPL argues that the objectives set for work in prisons - particularly the reintegration and re-engagement in society of prisoners - cannot be achieved as things currently stand given the many existing legal loopholes and failure to comply with the minimum standards that have been set. Approximation with ordinary labour law is called for, the only exceptions being associated with the specific nature of penal institutions. It appears necessary for work in detention to be governed by a fully-fledged social security law for the prison environment, entitling prisoners to protection through the professional activity they practise. Furthermore, given that diversification of the work opportunities available should be encouraged and form part of individual sentence plans, the CGLPL wished to observe various specific forms and frameworks of work in prison, being trialled within diverse institutions. In preparation for this opinion, it therefore performed several on-site inspections, on which specific reports have been produced and published on the CGLPL website. Their findings have been analysed with this opinion in mind: the trial of a medical-social facility aimed at helping disabled adults to better integrate socially through work (ESAT) in a long-term detention centre, the setup of a facility for integration through work (SIAE) in another long-term detention centre, and independent working in prison in the form of self-employment. 2011 Annual Report, Chapter 3 "Access to social rights for prisoners" and Chapter 4 "Work in detention: reconsideration of working prisoners' pay", Dalloz, p. 149. 35 22