- 75 e. contact with the outside world 146. The Committee attaches considerable importance to the maintenance of good contact with the outside world for all persons deprived of their liberty. As stressed in earlier reports78, the guiding principle should be to promote contact with the outside world as often as possible; any restrictions on such contacts should be based exclusively on security concerns of an appreciable nature. Above all, prisoners must be given the means of safeguarding their relationships with their families and close friends.79 The importance of maintaining good contact with the outside world is also recognised in the Greek Prison Law of 1999.80 147. Prisoners can make unlimited phone calls by purchasing phone cards and using the pay phones provided in the wings and they can write an unlimited number of letters. However, visit entitlements remains one visit per week of 30 minutes for convicted prisoners and two visits of 30 minutes per week each for remand prisoners. In the report on the 2011 visit, the CPT called upon the Greek authorities to review the arrangements for visits, with a view to increasing the amount of visiting time offered to sentenced prisoners to at least one hour every week. No steps have been taken to date to implement this recommendation. The CPT also wishes to emphasise in this context the need for some flexibility as regards the application of rules on visits vis-à-vis prisoners whose families live far away. Such prisoners should be allowed to accumulate visiting time.81 148. The delegation found that most visits continued to take place with the prisoner and visitor(s) physically separated from each other by a screen. ”Open” visits were possible, which allowed a degree of physical contact. However, such visits required special approval, that could often take a considerable time to obtain, and many complaints were received by the delegation about the restrictions concerning eligibility for open visits (which, in principle, were limited to first degree family members and first cousins). Only at Ioannina Prison had the prison management taken a flexible approach to this rule and, in several cases, granted special permission for open visits to distant relatives and even friends, based on a case-by-case security assessment. The delegation commends this flexible approach taken by the governor of Ioannina Prison. The CPT repeats its recommendations to the Greek authorities that sentenced prisoners be entitled to at least one hour of visiting time per week, and that prisoners whose families live far away be allowed to accumulate visiting time. Further, visits with a physical separation between the prisoner and the visitor(s) should be the exception rather than the rule. 78 79 80 81 See CPT/Inf (2010) 33, paragraph 142. See also CPT Standards, [CPT/Inf/E (2002) 1 - Rev. 2011], page 18, paragraph 51. See Articles 51 to 58. See CPT/Inf/E (2002) 1 - Rev. 2011, page 18, paragraph 51.