The headaches have been in the Dutch prison system for some time. A shortage of cells, staff and money were cited by various State Secretaries as the main reason for the problem. Broad -new State Secretary Arno Rutte (VVD) is also bumping into this problem, he writes in a letter to parliament.
Former State Secretary Ingrid Coenradie stretched the early release to three days in December, for some time it is true that certain convicts can be released two weeks earlier. The new letter to parliament sketches that sending back two weeks earlier has since become the norm.
This temporary emergency measure is not yet applied to prisoners convicted for serious violent or sexual offenses. The discount also only applies to people with a maximum of one year in prison.
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The structural problems are piling up. In addition to the chronic staff shortage, hundreds of cells will disappear in the coming months due to renovations and renovations. As a result, the deficit threatens to rise further and it may be necessary according to the outgoing cabinet to broaden the penalty discount or to apply alternative sanctions, Teun Struycken, the predecessor of State Secretary Rutte, has already said.
House of Representatives furious
“Bizarre,” several parties in the Lower House told De Telegraaf. “That is not possible, in a constitutional state,” Michiel van Nispen (SP) “criticizes” crazy cuts from the past. ”
MPs Marieke Wijen-Nass (BBB) and Derk Boswijk (CDA) also find it ‘unacceptable’. VVD MP Ulysse Ellian says that there must be a “solution as quickly as possible, so that prisoners serve their fully imposed punishment. Punishment is punishment.”
Recently, steps were taken to eventually illuminate the pressure on the prison system. For example, an amendment of D66 was adopted to move money for the NSC plan to the establishment of a Constitutional Court to the sector.
On Prinsjesdag, an additional 25 million euros extra was set aside for the cell shortage, rising to 50 million in the coming years. “A cloth for bleeding,” Joost Eerdmans (Ja21) calls the financial injection.
Room takes off millions to illuminate gigantic cell deficiency
Moreover, that money only lands later in the prison system, so that the cabinet does not exclude further expansion of the penalty discount. Alternative measures If the sending of people with an ankle strap earlier, the sitting cabinet does not like it for fear that this will not be normal.
Ankle strap as a main penalty
For example, there is an initiative law of NSC, D66 and CDA to give judges the opportunity to hand out an ankle band as a full punishment. “Stricter punishment and not investing in the prison system do not go together,” says co-initiator Joost faster (D66). “The cabinet doesn’t want to do anything about the underlying problem. This is playing with people’s safety.”
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The cabinet has recently been researching ways to increase cell capacity in the short term. For example, the reopening of the closed youth institution in Harreveld is being prepared, so that young adults are no longer forced to end up in regular prisons.
In addition, it was investigated whether the Almere prison closed in 2013 can be opened again. That would yield more than 300 cells, but according to State Secretary Rutte only in five to seven years and only with extra financial resources.
In addition, the Department of Custodial Institutions (DJI) or the assisted motion by Ellian (VVD) for a detention boat can be performed. Such a ship has a low level of security and could be temporarily available from the end of 2026, Rutte writes.
More multiple people are also being looked at. Finally, a hired motion of the SP is given. As a result, there is an extra allowance of 500 euros for the prison staff. On Wednesday, the House of Representatives will be debating again about the prison system.