The Director-General of Prisons, Mathilde Steenbergen, called for emergency legislation to address prison overcrowding during a Justice Committee meeting on Wednesday.
The Belgian prison system is bursting at the seams and all efforts to resolve overcrowding have so far failed. Recent figures indicate that 12,719 people are currently incarcerated in Belgium, while the system only has capacity for 11,020. Around 180 inmates are sleeping on the floor. The number of prisoners has increased by 2,000 in the past three years.
To tackle this, Steenbergen has suggested that individuals sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison be conditionally released. She also reiterated her proposal to implement an overcrowding barometer in each prison.
The Director-General proposed an emergency law for one year to combat the negative effects of overcrowding on inmates, staff and infrastructure.
How would it work?
In this framework, any convict serving up to five years and legally residing in Belgium would automatically receive conditional release except for those convicted of terrorism or sexual offences.
People without authorisation to stay in Belgium but who are unable to be repatriated would be conditionally released after serving half their sentence.
For sentences of up to 15 years, Steenbergen calls for early release six months before the sentence ends. She also supports extended prison leave.
Three scenarios
The Director-General calls for evaluating prison capacities with "objective criteria" which would then give rise to three scenarios: green (ideal), orange, and red (alarming and requiring urgent measures).
N-VA MP Sophie De Wit described these proposals as "cynical", as Steenbergen was the Chief of Staff under former Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne (CD&V). "You are now asking for emergency legislation despite having shaped the policy," De Wit said.
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Christoph D'Haese (N-VA) warned of a risk to the separation of powers if the court's ability to sanction is limited. Both right-wing N-VA and far right Vlaams Belang are in favour of increasing prison capacity.
For the left-wing parties – socialists PS and Vooruit, and the more radical Belgian Workers' Party (PTB) – reducing prison sentences is a positive step.
"Prison should be the last resort," stated Vooruit MP Achraf El Yakhloufi. "Reintegration must be prioritised," said Vanessa Matz (Les Engagés).
