Recommendations of 8th April 20096 concerning the custody cell of the Court of first instance in Bobigny The custody cell of the Court of first instance in Bobigny (Seine-SaintDenis) was visited by four controllers from the contrôle général des lieux de privation de liberté (CGLPL) on 13th October 2008. Factual findings from this control were communicated on 22nd October 2008 to the Commander of the Brigade of Judicial Guards for the Seine-Saint-Denis Departmental Department of Public Security. A response to this was provided on 14th November 2008. Following this response, the controllers revisited the site on 26th November 2008 in order to obtain supplementary information. The full report of the visit was submitted for observations to both the Minister of Justice and the Minister for the Interior, Overseas Territories and Local Authorities on 28th November 2008. The Minister of Justice replied on 13th February 2009. The Minister for the Interior, Overseas Territories and Local Authorities made his response known on 12th March 2009. Following this procedure, and in accordance with the law n°2007-1545 of 30th October 2007, the Contrôleur général des lieux de privation de liberté has decided to make the following recommendations public: 1/ A permanent house-keeping and maintenance process must be put in place and additional works undertaken to eliminate the unhygienic situation which, in the cells, is simply unacceptable: offensive smells, blocked toilets, presence of urine-filled plastic bottles, traces of excrement on the walls, etc. 2/ The configuration of the search area should be reviewed. In effect, despite the recess hidden by a partition, privacy is not guaranteed during physical body searching of persons on arrival: as the room in which the search takes place is not closed, a person undressing himself there can be seen by a third party. 6 Published in the Journal Officiel de la République française n°0088 of 15th April 2009, text n°58. 15