Prison staff protest against increasing overcrowding
Prison staff and directors across Belgium have taken action to raise the alarm about increasing overcrowding in the country's prisons.
Around 100 people gathered at the central prison administration office in Brussels. “This is the first time we have taken action from within the administration itself, which shows how desperate we are,” said Mathilde Steenbergen, director general of the Prison Service, who was present.
“It is no longer workable for our staff. We have never experienced overcrowding as bad as it is today.”
Around 200 people also gathered at the prison in Haren to support the action. “It’s not an ideological issue but purely a cry for help,” said prison director Jurgen Van Poecke.
“We really can’t continue working the way we do now,” he said. “Starting with the thousands of internees and people without a permanent place of residence in prisons, who do not belong here. We always have to keep the door open, but we can't take it anymore.”
"It is no longer workable for our staff. We have never experienced overcrowding as bad as it is today"
The issue of overcrowding is complex and requires input from the ministries of Public Health and Asylum and Migration, Steenbergen said.
While she said she had confidence in Justice minister Annelies Verlinden and was pleased with the emergency law approved in July, she is calling for interim measures until the effect of structural reform becomes apparent.
Under the emergency law, prison will only be used as a last resort for sentences of less than three years. Judges would be required to justify custodial sentences and impose alternative sanctions for prison terms of up to six months.
The law also allows prisoners to be released early after serving one third of a sentence of up to three years, or after six months if they wear an electronic ankle tag.
Staff at the prison in Huy, Liège province © BELGA PHOTO DIDIER DE HOE / Staf at Haren prison in Brussels © BELGA VIDEO JONAS ROOSENS
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