Gov't working on early release to free up space in prisons, despite Wilders outrage

State Secretary Ingrid Coenradie (Justice and Security, PVV) is sticking to her plan to release prisoners up to 14 days early to create room in overcrowded prisons, sources close to the government told Hart van Nederland. In February, PVV leader Geert Wilders threatened to remove her from the Cabinet for this same proposal. On her way into the Council of Ministers meeting on Friday, Coenradie only said that the Cabinet members would discuss “difficult choices” for prisons.

Hart van Nederland’s sources also said that Coenradie was working on putting more prisoners in one cell, partly to appease Wilders, who tweeted in February that the PVV would never support early release for convicts. “Just put more people in one cell,” he tweeted.

At the time, Coenradie called the measure irresponsible because it increases the pressure on prison staff and reduces safety. On her way into the Council of Ministers meeting, she repeated that line. “I think that is irresponsible, and I stick to that,” she told ANP.

Her spokesperson clarified that it is already common to have multiple prisoners in one cell, and Coenradie isn’t against it. But further increasing the number of prisoners per cell can lead to unsafe situations, and Coenradie wants to prevent that.

Hart van Nederland’s sources said that Coenradie found several places in the country where increasing the number of multi-person cells could be possible thanks to personnel windfalls and renovations that are almost complete.

Earlier this week, AD reported that Coenradie also wants to build two bare-bones prisons next year to create extra capacity. The prisons will be very basic, offering space for 120 inmates in total. One will be in Limburg, at the Ter Peel penitentiary. Several options are still being considered for the other location.

All these remain temporary solutions, and the structural problem of staff shortages and a lack of cells remains. 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. It is also unclear whether critical parties like the PVV or the VVD will accept the plans if the Council of Ministers adopts them.

Incidentally, the government already started releasing prisoners three days early in December to create some room for convicts waiting to serve their sentences.