Convicts to get released two weeks early from next month to alleviate cell shortage
Due to a shortage of prison staff and cells, the Netherlands will start releasing convicts two weeks before their sentence is done from mid-July, State Secretary Teun Struycken for Legal Protection (NSC) said in a still confidential letter that will be discussed in the Council of Ministers on Monday, RTL Nieuws reported.
It is already possible to release convicts up to five days before their prison sentence ends, but that is not enough to alleviate the shortage of space. 99.5 percent of prison cells are full, and convicts are being detained in police holding cells, Struycken wrote. At the same time, the number of people waiting to serve their sentence is growing.
Money is needed to solve the prison capacity problem, but no money is available. Releasing prisoners two weeks before the end of their sentence is the only quick solution he can see. Struycken said he regrets this decision, but it will free up cells where other convicts can serve their sentences. According to the State Secretary, not all prisoners will be eligible for early release. Each case will be assessed individually, and perpetrators of violent or sexual crimes will serve their full sentence.
In the letter, Struycken also stressed that investments in the prison system are necessary because the shortage will increase. Without money for new cells, the Netherlands will have a shortage of 800 regular cells and 83 juvenile detention spaces within five years. The increase is due to sentences increasing in recent years and an increase in convicts.
“This will probably lead to prisoners having to be released longer than 14 days early in the coming years, and that execution terms may expire,” Struycken said. If execution terms expire, convicted criminals may escape punishment altogether because the government waited too long to imprison them.
The early release of prisoners was a plan by former PVV State Secretary Ingrid Coenradie. PVV leader Geert Wilders clashed harshly with her over the plan, and that played a big part in her decision to leave the PVV and join JA21 after the Cabinet fell and she resigned along with the other PVV Cabinet members. Her decision was good for JA21, who jumped seven seats in the polls in the past two weeks.
