Three civil society organisations have joined the ongoing debate regarding the recent opening of what was meant to be the "prison of the future," located in Haren (Brussels), arguing it has caused a deterioration of the conditions in which prisoners live.
In November 2022, the last inmates were transferred to the Haren prison from the one in Forest, which Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne said was totally dilapidated, resulting in the prisoners having to live in degrading conditions. Instead, it is claimed the new detention centre replacing it has resulted in conditions worsening further in Belgium's prisons.
On Monday, a platform set up to "denounce the toxic mega-prison construction project" – the Haren Observatory – alongside Inter-Environment Brussels (IEB) and the Belgian Human Rights League (LDH), demanded that "urgent remedial action" be taken and that "full light be shed" on the project and the consequences of it.
On New Year's Eve, The Brussels Times reported on complaints by the association of relatives of detainees in Belgium’s Saint-Gilles Prison (CPDB) which raised concerns about what it believes to be “catastrophic living conditions” in the prison, noting that the "already deplorable conditions because of overcrowding and confinement deteriorated recently because of the opening of the Haren prison."
However, last week, the Belgian prison administration admitted that staff shortages were causing severe issues at the Saint-Gilles Prison, however, they refuted claims from the inmates' relatives that this was a result of the recent opening of the new prison in Haren.
'Catastrophic deterioration of conditions'
Since then, the three associations have refuted the authorities' claims, stating that Haren prison's premature opening did indeed cause the "catastrophic deterioration of the conditions of detention in Saint-Gilles," adding that three inmates had died there recently.
The shortage of guards at Saint-Gilles, which already suffered from understaffing, is reaching record levels, as several dozen guards are mobilised in Haren, which is facing the same issue. They argued that many justice professionals and trade unions consider the partial opening of Belgium's largest prison to have been rushed.
Due to chronic staff shortages, the full opening of the detention centre is unknown, and it remains unclear how long prisoners in Saint-Gilles will have to live in " abominable conditions."
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They called on the new Mayor of Saint-Gilles, Jean Spinette, to ensure that the number of prisoners in the municipality's prison is "gradually reduced" and that the conditions of detention are improved without delay, and that the prison must close if this cannot be done.
'Increased repression of prisoners'
The organisations also once again recalled that the complex is reportedly in breach of urban planning, something the Haren Observatory already sounded the alarm over in December, specifically stating it was opened without planning permission.
They pointed to the design of the construction — in particular to the extensive video surveillance and the overwhelming nature of the architecture. They also pointed to the management of prisoners, from the strict timing of the organisation of the inmates' days to the use of punishment and isolation cells and restraint beds.
"This makes this prison a place entirely oriented towards increased repression of prisoners," the organisations noted.
They added that the public-private contract behind the project has not yet been made public and that no one, reportedly not even the members of the House Justice Committee, "seems to have access to this contract, to the figures on its cost and to the terms of its renegotiation." They called on Van Quickenborne to make the contract publicly accessible.
