The employees of the Den Hey-Acker youth institution in Breda are very concerned about the safety of the prisoners and themselves. “We are no longer equipped for young people who exhibit increasingly serious criminal behavior and have increasingly serious disorders,” says a source within the National Juvenile Detention Center (DJJI), which includes four youth prisons. The employee wishes to remain anonymous for fear of the checkout culture. “A different system is needed very quickly here, but they don’t want to hear that in The Hague.”
The employee responds to Friday’s fatal stabbing. A 19-year-old prisoner from Enschede was killed. Another 20-year-old detainee from Nijmegen was seriously injured. An 18-year-old prisoner from The Hague is said to be the perpetrator. He will be arraigned on Tuesday.
“Each ward has its own kitchen. If the prisoners are going to cook, they can come to the office to get a chef’s knife.” So it went wrong on Friday, when the detainee suddenly stabbed two fellow inmates.
Den Hey-Acker has been suffering from a major staff shortage for years, as a result of which there is understaffing in the supervision of the prisoners. This year, the Breda youth institution wants to recruit 35 new employees to make up for the shortage. But according to FNV union director Yntse Koenen, this is insufficient, “That brings you back to the old level of two supervisors in a group. But actually three are needed in a group.”
The DJJI employee continues: “With three people per group you can pay better attention, but in fact the entire system has to be overhauled. Everything here is aimed at resocialisation, so that the young people always return to society. But recidivism of those guys is very high. Most of them return to crime. Within the juvenile detention centers, everything is now approached pedagogically and the TV and PlayStation are already ready when the inmates come in. But that no longer works. In other words, the young people must show themselves that they deserve to be released again.”
Former employees are now also opening a book about the situation within the youth prison in Breda. “I already pointed out in January 2020 that it is not a safe and pleasant working environment in Den Hey-Acker. I have worked in many prisons for years, but I have never felt so unsafe as in Breda. I am still grateful every day that I’m out of there,” a former employee tells Omroep Brabant. She wishes to remain anonymous, her name is known to the editors.