General Report of the CPT, 2011-2012 for prisoners, a document is under preparation with a view to preventing abusive resort to isolation and restraint vis-à-vis prisoners hospitalised in general psychiatry departments and that the necessary adjustments to the current organisation of care are under consideration. Report and response published April 2012, CPT/Inf (2012) 13 and CPT/Inf (2012) 14 Report on the periodic visit to Germany in November/December 2010 and response of the German authorities (“Fixierung” 5 , immigration detainees in prisons, preventive detention and surgical castration) 69. The CPT’s delegation found that in certain Länder, persons in police custody could still be subject to Fixierung. For example, at Cologne Police Headquarters (North Rhine-Westphalia), agitated detained persons could be shackled with hand- and ankle-cuffs to metal bars embedded in concrete platforms. The Committee has recommended that the police authorities of all Länder follow the approach of the Federal Police and the police service of Saxony and put an end to the use of Fixierung in police establishments. As regards prisons, resort could be had to Fixierung in all of the establishments visited, with the exception of Leipzig Prison (Saxony). Particular concern is expressed in the report about the prolonged periods for which prisoners were on occasion subjected to this measure (e.g. up to three days at Herford Juvenile Prison and up to five days at Cologne Prison) and the equipment used in certain prisons (e.g. at Herford and Cologne, metal rings anchored to the floor together with hand/ankle-cuffs). The CPT reiterates that the aim should be to abandon resort to Fixierung in nonmedical settings and has spelt out the precepts which in the meantime should be strictly adhered to whenever resort is had to this measure in prisons. In their response, the German authorities point out that in many Länder the practice of Fixierung has been completely abolished in a police context and that, where the practice still exists, its application is subject to stringent prerequisites and the measure is used only in rare, exceptional cases. As regards the prison context, the German authorities are of the view that a general abolition of Fixierung of inmates is not practicable. However, they state that the precepts identified by the CPT are observed and, more specifically, that the equipment used in nearly all of the Länder consists exclusively of strap systems. 70. The delegation noted that immigration detainees were still being held in prisons in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and Saxony. The CPT has stressed once again that a prison is by definition not an appropriate place in which to detain someone who is neither suspected nor convicted of a criminal offence. It is recommended that the authorities in the Länder concerned take the necessary 5. The term “Fixierung” refers to the practice of physically fixing a person in a supine position, usually by the arm(s), leg(s) and/or trunk, on a bed/mattress by means of straps or metal cuffs. 28