There is a lack of a careful and well-thought-out approach to the many security measures that the Ministry of Justice and Security has taken against serious criminals in prison in recent years. As a result, the rights of those detainees are under pressure.
This is stated by the Council for the Administration of Criminal Justice and Youth Protection (RSJ) in an advice that will be published on Thursday about the security measures that should prevent criminal acts from prison.
Tackling this continued criminal activity has been high on the political agenda since the murder of Peter R. De Vries and the arrest of the now convicted lawyer Youssef Taghi, who sent messages from his family member Ridouan Taghi from the Extra Secure Institution (EBI) in Vught to smuggled out.
Read also: Ridouan Taghi worked on three escape scenarios from EBI
The RSJ, an independent advisory body to the Minister for Legal Protection, does not mention these issues by name, but does state that there is a new category of detainees with the power and resources that threaten politicians, judges, lawyers, journalists, but also prison staff. and violence.
Due to the increased threat of this group of detainees, security measures are increasing rapidly, the RSJ sees. In addition to various new construction projects to house dangerous detainees – including the construction of a second EBI in Vlissingen – a series of aggravating legal measures have been introduced in the past year and a half. For example, the standard placement period in the EBI has been extended from 6 to 12 months and a new Intensive Supervision Department has been created with insufficient legal guarantees. And there is more in the pipeline: research is being carried out on behalf of the Ministry of Justice and Security into how the strict Italian mafia detention regime, in which detainees are almost completely isolated, can be translated to the Netherlands.
Read also: There were enough signals about Youssef Taghi
Imprisonment is the punishment
The rush of measures is worrying the RSJ. This heavy focus on security puts the three basic principles of the prison system under pressure. Those three principles, which follow from Dutch law as European guidelines, mean that the freedom of a detainee may not be restricted more than necessary, that his detention must be aimed at returning to society (resocialisation) and that his treatment must be humane. are. “The underlying premise is that the punishment is imprisonment,” explains RSJ chairman Han Moraal. “Conditions in prison should therefore not be extra punitive.” He notes that this starting point, which has been used in the Netherlands for decades, has lately “sometimes been lost” in the social and political discussion.
touchstone
In the advice, the RSJ once again lists the three principles with the hope that the Minister for Legal Protection Franc Weerwind (D66) will use them in the future as a touchstone for new security measures. Customization should be provided for each prisoner. The RSJ recognizes the need for additional security measures, but emphasizes that the legal basis, policy substantiation and practical feasibility must be properly worked out when taking those measures.
That has been lacking several times in recent times. Characteristic of the Dutch detention system is that detainees who disagree with a decision – for example about placement in a certain prison regime – can lodge objections and appeals. That is not always the case now. For detainees who are placed in a new Intensive Supervision Department, it has not been laid down when and under what conditions they can leave the department. This also applies to the prison regime for detainees with management problems.
Read also: Does the Italian approach also work with our ‘polder mafia’?
According to the RSJ, work is being done hastily in some areas. The advisory body emphasizes the importance of a careful and well-thought-out approach and states that politicians and the administration sometimes have to take a step back. “We think that in a constitutional state like the Netherlands you should handle government coercion very carefully,” says Moraal. The RSJ therefore finds it unwise that Minister Weerwind has already implemented various measures in anticipation of the investigation into the Italian mafia regime. “It is a pity that the minister did not wait for the outcome of the investigation. That would have been better in the context of due care.”
Political interference
In its advice, the RSJ notes several times that security measures are taken under considerable political pressure and notes that this does not benefit quality and care. The independent advisory body sees “extensive interference” from members of the House of Representatives who, among other things, urge detailed measures in prisons through motions. The RSJ calls this “a worrying development”.
As an example, when asked, Moraal cites a motion passed last year by VVD MP Ulysse Ellian in which, among other things, telephone contact in the EBI is reduced to once ten minutes a week. “That is unnecessary political pressure. Parliament should control the minister. Of course, MPs should express concerns about certain issues and ask the minister for a solution, but they should leave the exact form of that solution to the minister – the executive.
The advice of the RSJ concerns a relatively small group of about seventy to eighty detainees who are staying in the country’s toughest prison regimes. The fact that it concerns a limited number of detainees against whom, moreover, there is a loud social call for retaliation, is irrelevant to Moraal. “They also have rights. They, too, should not be punished more severely than necessary,” says Moraal. According to him, this is part of the constitutional way in which the Netherlands has been dealing with detainees for decades. “You can very well read the legal content and the civility of a country in the way it treats its detainees.”
A version of this article also appeared in the March 9, 2023 newspaper