The situation in Belgium is so critical that people in the country are increasingly asking what would happen if it turns out that due to overcrowded prisons, the execution of sentences is practically impossible. ARD tells about a Belgian satirical show in which two clowns taught prisoners how to swallow their stomachs in order to fit into their cells.
Belgian television also showed the shocking reality of prisons. A report told about the prison in Saint-Gilles - a gloomy 19th century building, reminiscent of a medieval fortress. The cells there are completely uninhabitable, but they are still occupied because there is no other place for the prisoners.
23 hours a day in the cell
About 600 prisoners in Belgium are forced to sleep on mattresses on the floor because there are no free beds for them - this information is also confirmed by the Ministry of Justice in Brussels. Due to the lack of sufficient staff, the prison in the city of Mechelen, for example, does not hold any sports activities, courses and other activities. The prisoners spend 23 hours a day in their cells. For them, variety is the only hour they can walk in the yard.
Experts fear that in such conditions, resocialization fails, and after their release, the convicts may again become a threat. "If you lock a lion in a cage for too long, it will naturally bite you when you let it out," a court official was quoted as saying by ARD.
Belgian prisons have a total of 11,000 places, but they house 13,500 people. One reason is the tightening of legislation in the fight against drugs. In Brussels alone, the number of arrest warrants has doubled to 2,500 per year since the judicial system introduced accelerated procedures.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever is proposing that 1,300 detainees be released and monitored using electronic bracelets. However, according to Belgian Justice Minister Anneliese Verlinden, electronic bracelets are not a safe alternative. That is why it wants to rent cells abroad to ease the situation in prisons on its territory.
Estonia will accept prisoners from other countries
Similar ideas are also being discussed in France, where prisons are also overcrowded. Estonia, on the other hand, is a country that has enough free capacity in its prisons. The idea is to accept nearly 600 prisoners from Belgium there. Sweden has also reached a similar agreement with Estonia. The Belgian government was also negotiating with Kosovo and Albania, but since they are not members of the EU, it was accepted that the risks there were too serious.
The interesting question is how the prisoners to be transferred to Estonia will be selected. A prisoner cannot be transferred to another country against his will, just because there are not enough places in the prisons in his country. Therefore, Belgium will apparently concentrate on foreigners who are illegally residing in the country and have been convicted. According to the authorities, this is about 30% of all prisoners.
The problem is most serious in Cyprus. Where is Bulgaria?
Prison overcrowding is a major problem in Europe, the German public media points out. Cyprus faces the most serious challenges - there, there are two detainees for every place in prison. Slovenia, France, Italy, Belgium and Romania are also experiencing problems. On the other hand, Poland and Hungary have enough free places in prisons, although they have the highest percentage of prisoners. Germany also has no overcrowded prisons, and the quota of detainees is 72 per 100,000 people. In Bulgaria, there are 86 prisoners per 100,000 people, which is below the European average of 111 per 100,000.
Slovenia is trying to solve the problem with the help of suspended sentences. The desire of France and Belgium to rent cells abroad is politically controversial. “We need reforms in our own country to eliminate the causes of overcrowded prisons, instead of treating the symptoms with expensive rentals abroad“, believes Belgian MP Axel Weids, quoted by ARD.
New facilities
Meanwhile, the authorities in Belgium have announced that they are starting the construction of new facilities. Until they are ready, quick solutions are being sought, also in line with the new European directive on the return of illegally staying third-country nationals. It provides for them to be placed in deportation centers outside the EU. Countries such as Albania and Kosovo could serve as examples of such, experts point out.
Author: Andreas Meyer-Feist ARD