Unusable cells, few staff and more and more prisoners: how Dutch prisons became overloaded

How should the Netherlands solve the capacity problem in prisons? That will explain State Secretary Ingrid Coenradie (Justice, PVV) to the Council of Ministers on Friday. There is a shortage of cells and staff, while the number of prisoners continues to increase. Previously, Coenradie called it a “code-black situation”.

Indeed, since 2016, the number of prisoners has not been as great as it is now. An additional complication is that one in six detention places (16 percent) is not usable, a total of 1,781 places. This is apparent from an analysis of NRC From the capacity and occupancy figures, from 2016 to 2024, of the Custodial Institutions Agency (DJI). In December 2024, more than 11,000 places were available, 80 percent of which were then occupied.

“In the Netherlands, overpopulation of prisons is not accepted,” says Hester de Boer, who will be awarded a PhD at the Institute for Criminal Law & Criminology at Leiden University. “A mattress on the floor or putting on a bunk bed does not happen here. We want a human punishment and security for staff and prisoners. “

Sport

That makes it difficult to quickly raise the available places in the 26 Dutch penitentiary institutions. “Sometimes prisoners cannot be placed together because of their problems or behavior, or because you then have too many prisoners in a department, or because he has too few facilities for, for example, labor, visit or sport,” says a spokesperson for DJI. Over the period investigated, an average of 550 places also proved unusable due to renovations or a lack of staff.

“In 2004 we had the same shortage,” De Boer explains. Unlike surrounding countries, the size of the Dutch prison population fluctuates considerably. For example, the population fell by around 40 percent between 2005 and 2016, to increase again between 2016 and 2020. “Longer unconditional punishments are now being imposed. The prioritization of the investigation partly determines the inflow into the prisons. From 2016, the emphasis is mainly on organized crime. ” From 2020, the share of long -term prisoners in the criminal outflow has increased.

The answer to the cell deficiency is always with the employees: you first have to invest in people, then only in stones

The deficiency was caused by earlier prisons ditches to cut back. From 2012, when the prison population was relatively small, it was cut back on the prison system. After that, the number of detention places since 2016 fell by almost 8 percent, including by closing prisons in Almere, Zoetermeer and Zwaag in 2019. This had little effect on the available places; The occupation fell in these prisons prior to the closures and most disappeared places were already in the non-usable category. But where a prison is closed, the staff leaves.

“The answer to the cell deficiency always lies with the employees. You first have to invest in people, then only in stones. Only when the course is more attractive can you open new locations, “says FNV director Marcelle Buitendam, who criticizes the uncertainty created:” The prison system was for a long time an unreliable industry for employees. Because of the closures, the employees did not know what to expect. “

According to the DJI, it is necessary to attract almost a thousand people to fill all open vacancies. But according to the spokesperson, the capacity problem cannot only be solved with extra staff.

Vacancy

In addition to the 1,781 unusable places are also 350 useful Places empty. It seems easier than it is. For example, no man can be placed in an available place in a women’s prison. Moreover, the number of empty, usable places – just like the unusable places – is at the lowest level in ten years: only 3 percent are empty. This was more than 10 percent during the Coronapandemie.

And so the State Secretary searches for cells in other places. By Ad They would consider building prisons for 120 extra beds, to reopen the prison in Almere and rent cells in Estonia.

Renting cells abroad is not unique. Until September 2018, the Netherlands rented all 272 places in the PI Veenhuizen location Norgerhaven to Norway. Currently the Netherlands rents out 126 places, including for international stands and the International Criminal Court.

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