Prison staff in Lantin, Liège, are set to strike from 22:00 on Sunday.
The 24-hour walkout comes in response to eight Flemish prisons refusing to admit new detainees since 2 March, due to overcrowding, confirmed by Grégory Wallez, federal secretary at ACOD, on Sunday.
Inmates who could not be accommodated in these Flemish prisons were redirected to other correctional facilities, including Lantin.
Wallez brands the Flemish institutions’ refusal as an “illegal action”, heightening community tensions within the Belgian prison system.
On Friday, a widely observed 24-hour strike was initiated in Belgian prisons, according to unions, who commented on the overwhelming willingness to participate.
The strike aimed to draw attention to the overcrowding issues in prisons: there are just 10,750 spots for 12,400 prisoners.
