Dutch gov't planning to build two prisons next year to solve cell shortage: report
The Dutch government plans to build two prisons next year to solve the current cell shortage, insiders told AD. The prisons will be very basic, offering space for 120 inmates in total. According to the newspaper’s sources, State Secretary Ingrid Coenradie of Justice and Security will present the plan at the Council of Ministers on Friday.
One of the two new prisons will be in Limburg, at the Ter Peel penitentiary. Several options are still being considered for the other location.
The Netherlands is facing a severe shortage of cells, partly because 26 prisons closed in the past decade and partly due to staff shortages. In February, the PVV State Secretary announced that she might have to release convicts two weeks early to free up cells for people waiting to serve their sentences.
That announcement was followed by a massive row between Coenradie and PVV leader Geert Wilders, who threatened to force the PVV State Secretary out of the Cabinet. Coenradie bought some time by requisitioning 45 cells in the Schiphol Judicial Complex intended for foreigners awaiting deportation to be used for “ordinary prisoners,” but that is not a structural solution.
Figures from a year ago showed that some 2,000 convicts could not serve their sentences because there was no space in the Dutch prisons. In December, the Cabinet decided to release prisoners three days before the official end of their sentence to make space for new inmates. In September, Coenradie announced she was working on plans to imprison Dutch convicts in Estonia. It is not clear how far these plans have developed.
On Friday, Coenradie will inform parliament about the state of affairs in the prison system.
