Guards at the Saint-Gilles Prison have been on a 48-hour strike since Monday evening, protesting recent security issues and deteriorating working conditions.
Staff have been met with reported threats of violence at the prisons of Forest, Saint-Gilles, and Berkendael over the previous week, prompting trade unions representing prison guards to file a joint strike notice.
Unions are once again speaking out against prison overcrowding, which in turn is causing staff to 'lose control' over inmates.
Guards at the Saint-Gilles penitentiary are said to have been attacked with boiling water on Monday morning, which has pushed them to go on strike until Wednesday evening. Ten days ago, a riot broke out in the neighbouring Forest Prison.
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Another point of contention among the guards has been the postponed opening from mid-October to early November of a new 'super-prison' in Haren, with Stijn Van den Abeele, a delegate of the VSOA/SLFP Prisons union, claiming that "Haren is not ready at all.”
Van den Abeel added that "three-quarters of the prison's doors don’t have cylinders yet and you can open them with your little finger.”
As a result of the lack of clarity, inmates "have said that things will continue to get worse and have already threatened to take prison staff hostage," according to the union representative.
