From freeing up extra capacity to a different approach to penitentiary leave: plenty of measures are being taken to alleviate prison overcrowding in the short term, said Federal Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt (Open VLD) on Friday.
Following recent reports of an Antwerp Prison detainee being tortured for days by his cellmates, a joint union front stated that prison overcrowding and understaffing have been to blame for allowing the "gruesome scene" to happen.
"Yes, I feel responsible," Van Tigchelt said on Friday morning on Flemish radio when asked about the torture of an inmate in Antwerp Prison that came to light this week. "But it is not like we waited for this incident to address the issue of overcrowding and violence."
Long-term measures were already in place, he stressed: additional places were being created, alternatives to imprisonment were provided and additional staff were being hired. "We had already added 1,200 places this legislature and we had recruited an additional 611 staff."
Reduce inflow, promote outflow
"We also want to work on humane detention. Not only by replacing those dilapidated buildings (one in three cells has already been replaced), but also by effectively working on reintegration and rehabilitation, with detention houses and detention supervisors. Funds have been released to create 15 detention houses."
For short-term acute needs, Van Tigchelt is in negotiations with unions. "We are trying to reduce inflow and promote outflow to take the pressure off."
For example, some 1,000 people who are currently in prison should actually be institutionalised to get psychological help, but there are not enough spaces. "They are sick and need treatment. We are meeting with our colleagues from the Health Ministry to address this."
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Additionally, Van Tigchelt is also trying to remove arrested undocumented migrants from Belgian prisons by transferring them to their home countries for punishment. "We have also already announced measures on extending penitentiary leave. And we are accelerating recruitment to free up additional capacity in Haren and Ypres."
However, nothing would change in terms of the execution of short prison sentences. "That is crucial to me. A justice system that does not carry out its sentences is not a credible justice system. It is precisely to counter this inflation of increasingly harsh sentences that we carry out these short sentences."
