A persistent shortage of staff has been causing problems in prisons for some time now. But young people are also becoming more and more involved in crime. That says a spokeswoman for justice union Juvox. She thinks it is “very sad” what happened in Den Hey-Acker juvenile detention. A 19-year-old prisoner was stabbed to death there on Friday. The union speaks of a worrying situation, not only in the youth prison in Breda.
“It is already normal to kill someone for 100 euros in cash. And we then also get those young people into the juvenile detention centers, where there is a lack of respect and authority,” says the spokeswoman. “There is a limit to how far you can still treat these detainees.”
The FNV trade union is also very concerned about the prison system. Trade union director Yntse Koenen: “Employees in Den Hey-Acker also have trouble keeping control of the young people. Everything is aimed at reintegration, but the employees are laughed in the face by prisoners because they are not allowed to punish.”
The cabinet is said to plan to allocate millions more, including to recruit new staff in the prison system. But according to Koenen, this does not solve the problem: “Working in the prison system has a bad reputation. So where do you get that new staff in the current labor market?”
An employee of the National Criminal Justice Institution (DJJI) who wishes to remain anonymous also has a hard time: “Many colleagues now stop here and switch to another job. Better services, more pay and less dangerous. It will be very difficult to bring in new people.”
In the search for 35 new employees, Den Hey-Acker abandons the strict requirement that she must have at least HBO education, according to the 2021 annual report. “A third line is being set up, which means that not only HBO -ers are sought as pedagogical employees, but also more MBO students. The quality of residence for young people will be increased; a more complete program will be run for young people, so that they have to spend less time in their room. For example, in the event of staff loss.”
Justice union Juvox is happy with this. “You see recently graduated HBO students who come to work here, without much life experience. They are shocked by the kind of prisoners they find in the juvenile detention centers. You used to have really good guys as guards who could really educate, but that’s not anymore,” the spokeswoman says. “So I’d like to see a big experienced truck driver apply who knows exactly how to deal with the boys in the juvenile detention center.”
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