Three prison workers targeted in four explosive attacks last month
The homes of three prison workers were targeted in four explosive attacks in August. One of the prison officers got hurt, the Dutch Custodial Institutions Agency (DJI) reported on Tuesday in its incidents report. The targeted staff members work at three separate prisons.
The first attack happened on August 2 at the home of an employee of the Penitentiary Institution in Heerhugowaard. The next day, someone set a fire at their home. No one got hurt, but the attacks damaged the prison worker’s home.
Two weeks later, there was an explosion at the home of an employee of the Krimpen aan den IJssel Penitentiary. The employee’s dog responded to noises at the front door. When the prison officer went to check, a large firework exploded, injuring him.
A day later, an explosive detonated at the home of a prison employee in Zaanstad. No one got hurt, but the explosion damaged the home’s front door.
The DJI did not disclose where these attacks took place to protect its employees’ privacy. The police are investigating the incidents. As far as is known, no arrests have been made.
Prison employees often face pressure on intimidation from convicts, but that three employees from different prisons faced four attacks in their private lives in one month is unheard of, a spokesperson for the DJI told AD.
Janine van den Berg, director of the prison system at the DJI, called the attacks on prison workers’ homes a hardening of crime in the Netherlands. “Experiencing this at work is bad enough. Let alone in your private life. Because behind every incident is a person, a colleague with their family and friends. In short: a life outside of work.”
“Not feeling safe because of the work you do affects me deeply,” Van den Berg said. “Therefore, let us please continue to stand together for the standard that intimidation and aggression are not normal and must never be.”
