Sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for leading a criminal organization, extortion and theft with violence. Captain Henk (Henk Kuipers) from Emmen is now living life behind bars. But Captain Henk wouldn’t be Captain Henk if he weren’t against the dominant image of bad boy goes in. That’s why he brings his book Bad Standing out.
The criminal practices took place from 2014 to 2017. In 2022 he was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison. Kuipers appealed, but this did not lead to a reduction in sentence. “I am not saying that I am unjustly in prison. If you have to have your ears turned, you will get your ears turned,” says 60-year-old Kuipers by telephone from prison in the Radio Drenthe program Cassata.
“You have to deal with that, you have to be a man for that.” But according to Kuipers, ‘sometimes things have been straightened that are still crooked’, so it was time for a sound from his side, he explains. He has the new book in collaboration with an author Bad Standing written.
Since he has been in prison, friendships have been seen in a different light. “I once spoke to the founder of a large, worldwide motorcycle club. He said: ‘If you end up in jail, you have to fend for yourself.’ That has also proven to be the case. You should not have the illusion that friends remain your friends for life.”
Kuipers is allowed to go outside once a week to resocialize. In three months he will arrive in Veenhuizen in Groot Bankenbosch. Groot Bankenbosch is a location for the Limited Security Division (BBA) and the Institution for Systematic Offenders (ISD).
His time in prison sometimes feels lonely. “You miss your wife, children, grandchildren,” he says. “When I was arrested, I had one grandchild, I now have six. But I have also experienced very nice things here. Such as the monthly visits from friends Johan Derksen and Ferri Somogyi from Good times, bad times.”
Kuipers appealed against his sentence to the Supreme Court. That was rejected. Kuipers has also filed a case with the European Court of Human Rights. No decision has yet been made on this.