The lawyers of the prisoner who was tortured and raped for several days, are filing a complaint for guilty default. They say he could have been saved at least 24 hours earlier, as three different reports about the ongoing abuse were made.
Last week, a 41-year-old inmate from Antwerp Prison was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries after being abused for days by his five cellmates. Three were charged with attempted murder, rape and torture and the two others are guilty by omission. The unions stressed that "the gruesome scene" was a "direct consequence of overcrowding [the cell where he was tortured was designed for three people but contained six, ed.] and understaffing."
An internal investigation by the Prison Service has now revealed that while the torture was taking place, services received three different reports of the incident between Sunday 10 March and Tuesday 12 March. One was regarding "tumult" in the cell on Sunday.
On Monday, an external telephone report was made about the victim, possibly by his partner who was reportedly called by the inmates who were torturing the man on Sunday. Het Laatste Nieuws reported that the suspects wanted to verify whether the rumour was true that her boyfriend had been convicted of raping minors. On Tuesday afternoon, a fellow inmate reported during the meal distribution that something was going on with another prisoner.
But it was only days after the abuse began and once the Prison Director An Janssens was directly informed that action was taken. Staff said that they could not carry out in-depth checks due to the high workload. There was also a strike ongoing at the time, precisely to raise awareness of working conditions. However, lawyer Sven Mary, who is co-representing the victim, has argued that mistakes were made and the man could have been saved at least 24 hours earlier.
'Socially, physically and mentally dead'
The inmate's lawyers are therefore filing a complaint for guilty default, VRT reported. The complaint is directed at "unknown people " for now, as a further investigation will have to reveal who exactly is guilty. However, it is likely Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt (Open VLD) will come under fire as he is responsible for the Prison Service.
"Justice Ministers have had to pay for mistakes under their watch in the past," Mary said. "No one died this time, but someone has still been left socially, physically and mentally dead: he is essentially in a vegetative state."
In response, Van Tigchelt once again argued that security at the prison could not be guaranteed at the time due to a staff strike. The Minister would not reveal whether there was also negligence at the prison because the judicial investigation is still ongoing.
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The Prison Service, meanwhile, affirmed that it wants to learn from this to prevent such incidents from happening again in the future. "We deeply regret the suffering the inmate in question underwent. We are considering how we can improve our operations," it told Belga News Agency.
In the meantime, the justice department is working with unions to respond to short-term acute needs to reduce overpopulation, including by improving outflow with measures such as extended penitentiary leave and limiting inflow, in collaboration with the police, the Public Prosecutor's Office and the courts.
