Forest Prison reopens as educational project
Almost three years after its closure with the transfer of prisoners to Haren, Forest Prison in Brussels is reopening in a new form. The non-profit organisation 9m2 will occupy a wing of the building where it will develop a civic, cultural and educational project focusing on imprisonment and prison policy.
Built in 1910, Forest's jail is emblematic of Belgium’s prison heritage. “This place will allow visitors to understand what imprisonment means and to question the meaning of the penal system,” said a spokesperson for 9m2, which has spent three years campaigning for access to the site.
Guided tours will follow in the footsteps of a prisoner, from registration and the bathing area to the cells and the courtyard. Testimonies from former prisoners are included to illustrate the realities of detention.
The initiative comes at a time of record prison overcrowding: at the end of July, Belgium had 13,061 prisoners for 11,040 places. According to the Council of Europe, nearly a third of prisoners in Belgium are in preventive detention and the prevalence of death by suicide among detainees is among the highest in Europe.
9m2 wants to make the site a place of awareness-raising for citizens, students and professionals in the judicial sector and open a debate on alternatives to imprisonment.
“The more prisons we build, the more we fill them,” says the association.
The inside of Forest Prison in Brussels as the final prisoners are transferred to Haren, November 2022 © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK
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