“No way,” tweeted PVV leader Geert Wilders on Wednesday about the leaked plan of his State Secretary Ingrid Coenradie to release prisoners two weeks earlier. “The PVV group never agrees. Stop more people on a cell. “
VVD MP Ulysse Ellian also brought Wilders shortly for Wilders via x The policy intention is shaking. “Is not going to happen. Then more prisoners on cell. Prison sentences must be carried out. That too is a foundation of the rule of law. ”
There have been problems with that foundation for some time. Since the end of November 2023, when Coenradies predecessor raised the alarm, it has been clear that the Dutch prison system is in a huge crisis due to staff shortages and enforces its core task – prison sentences.
The then Minister for Legal Protection Franc Weerwind (D66) then decided to temporarily no longer call on ‘self -detectors’: persons who are able to wait for the start of their prison sentence after their conviction, until they receive a call to report. It would be perpetrators of small offenses – of the caliber insulting an official. But soon pale That this is about burglars, money laundering, drug criminals, firearms, scammers and perpetrators. Meanwhile, 4,109 of such self -detectors are running free, according to figures from the Ministry of Justice and Security.
‘Temporary emergency valves’
Last year, the ministry introduced one ‘temporary emergency measure’ after the other and drained several ’emergency valves’. ‘Capacity leave’ came, so that prisoners were allowed to sit out a remnant of their prison sentence at home with an ankle band. More prisoners were placed in a light prison regime. And prisoners whose punishment was on the weekend or on Monday, were released a maximum of three days earlier (on Friday). Coenradie even went to Estonia, to see if Dutch prisoners could sit out their punishment.
This did not prevent Coenradie from having to exclaim ‘Code Zwart’ two months ago: all penitentiary institutions and cell complexes on police stations were full. That meant that no new suspects could be arrested.
Although she did not have the authority, written Coenradie the Chamber, and decided as a “emergency valve” to the “Rot measure” to always release prisoners three days earlier. Wednesday unveiled The NOS that Coenradie is now working out a plan to release prisoners even 14 days earlier. But the two largest coalition parties shot that plan: they want “more people on a cell”.
Multi -person cells
That button was played before in 2004. Partly due to cell shortages, the law was changed at the time to be able to deviate from the traditional starting point that a prisoner has his own cell. Of the 8,004 prison places in the Netherlands, there are now 3,684 places in a multi -person cell, the ministry says.
Due to ‘Code Zwart’, Coenradie wrote the Chamber last December “where it is possible and can be responsible” to organize extra multi -person cells. According to the State Secretary, this results in 20 extra prison places. “That indicates that people are already sitting on the limit of the responsible and that all the capacity that is there is used,” says university teacher Criminology Esther van Ginneken of Leiden University.
I foresee that it leads to extra incidents if you expand. You are going to place people together in a cell that is less suitable for it
In recent years, Van Ginneken has been investigating multi -person cell use. Her most recent scientific article opens with “the first lifelict in the Netherlands that can be directly associated with the use of multi -person cells”: in March 2023 a prisoner died in the Penitentiary Institution Krimpen aan den IJssel. Other violent incidents – such as pouring a cell mate with boiling water – are also called.
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International guidelines
Van Ginneken says that Dutch practice is currently already sanding with international guidelines for human detention, which prescribe that every prisoner has his own cell. Those guidelines are there for a reason. After all, lack of privacy can lead to stress and conflicts among prisoners. “You sit with two people on 12 square meters and that creates tensions.”
In a situation of staff shortage, the criminologist considers it irresponsible to expand the number of multi -person cells. The staff, she says, now often knows how to put the complex puzzle of which people fit together. “I foresee that it leads to extra incidents if you expand. You are going to place people on a cell that is less suitable for it and who cannot get along well with each other. ” Apart from the prisoners, this also has consequences for staff. “It causes large work pressure with the risk of more failure.”
Safety Staff
FNV trade union director Marcelle Buitendam also sees that risk. She says that prison staff is absolutely not eager for even more multi -person cells. “They do not contribute to the safety of employees.” It produces more stress and conflicts in caught and therefore in the department. Moreover, the cells are more difficult to observe and control for prison staff. “Extra supervision is needed, what is not there.”
Van Ginneken points out that there are much more logical buttons to turn on to solve the current detentry problem. An important part of the solution can be when limiting short prison sentences of a maximum of one year, which form the majority of all imposed penalties.
For example, she is positive about the initiative law of Joost Vlaster (D66) announced this week – and supported by a majority of the Chamber of Chamber, to impose a community service sentence instead of replacement detention. This also applies to the citizens’ initiative bill ‘Smarter Punishing’ that offers judges the opportunity to punish with electronic detention. Although PVV and VVD do not want to do this, because an ankle band would not be ‘real’ resistant punishment. “Research shows that electronic detention is indeed experienced as compared by the ankle band carrier, who is not allowed to leave his house. The social perception of this is not always accurate. ”